Star Wars Legacy Episode II - Factions of Darkness
by MAllan921
Summary: Jedi Master Lyssa Anota and her padawan Nemic Korin travel to the planet Agara Prime on behalf of the New Republic to help settle regional fears of the military build-up in that system. Meanwhile, Ayvan Ezen, Obi-wan Shai, and Nash Corino uncover a plot by a new threat on Coruscant, sending them to the Agara System as well to try and stop a major threat to the galaxy.


Legacy : Episode II

Factions of Darkness

Over three hundred years has passed since the days of Luke Skywalker and end of the Great War…

A YT-40 transport emerged from hyperspace beyond the planet Agara Prime, a hospitable blue and green planet with three moons. The YT-40, a small shuttle model in the popular Corellian Engineering line, had a typical segmented cockpit module at the front of a rectangular fuselage. A short pair of forward-swept wings, angled up almost like gull wings, extended from the sides of the ship. Tall C-shaped thrusters propelled the off-white shuttle down towards the planet.

The transport broke down through the cloud cover of Agara, rocketing towards a chain of tall granite mountains. The region was filled with sequoia type trees that were spread out around the tall white domed granite mountain range.

At the end of a long, wide valley stood a city atop one of the granite mountains. The city of Agramyek was more in the design of a kingdom. It was like the city of Theed on Naboo, only surrounded with more of a temperate deciduous forest like that of Endor. Agramyek had tall towers designed in maroon and gold at its exterior, the colors of the city kingdom. Outlying regions were more diverse and urban in their color schemes and designs, like any advanced galactic city.

The YT-40 flew over a flat assembly field. The field belonged to a military installation, with armored vehicles parked in several areas of the base. On the broad field were brigades of grey armored troopers standing in formation. A few of the formations consisted of the same style armored soldiers, only with a crimson red color instead of grey.

There were several smaller spaceports around Agramyek where the YT-40 might have landed but given the status of its passengers it was allowed to fly on towards the main palace landing pads. One of the main landing pads of the palace, which seemed reserved for its most important arrivals, was built atop a rock outcrop of the mountain the palace itself was built upon. A tall narrow granite arm reached out from the palace with a long stone walkway set at its top. Short light fixtures were set on bronze poles at regular intervals along the walk. At the end was a large round landing pad capable of receiving up to a light freighter.

Assembled at the end of the walk of the landing platform were two platoons of the same maroon armored soldiers that were seen on the military parade field. The platoons were split along the sides of the elevated walkway near the landing pad. Standing between them were two regally dressed humanoid males and three more of the crimson guard, the elite royal version of the red troopers. The humanoid men, one older and the other a young man, wore similar tan, black, and crimson royal garb with long flowing maroon capes. Both waited as they watched the YT-40 come to a hovering position overhead on its wailing repulsors.

The four broad landing struts of the YT-40 reached down, with the weight of the vehicle flexing their armature as the YT-40 set its full weight down. Several vents hissed. The landing ramp at the side lowered. Two Jedi Knights walked casually down the ramp. The first was a woman with her long brownish red hair braided into two lines at the sides of her head. In dark red and brown robes, Lyssa Anota of the Skywalker Order walked down first. Her Padawan, a mocha sinned Zabrak with tan horns and brown hair, followed her down. The Padawan, Nemic Korin, had the traditional braid of a padawan at the right side of his head, wearing darker brown robes than his master.

"Master Anota! A pleasure to see you again!" the elder royal male stepped forward to shake her hand.

"Thank you for your hospitality, King Ukrare." Lyssa shook his hand.

"You remember my son, Prince Dakar?" Ukare gestured to the young man, apparently in his early twenties, standing next to him. The familial resemblance was notable, with Ukare and Dakar sharing some of the same angular facial features. While Ukare had a groomed beard, Dakar was clean shaven.

"It's been a while. You've grown quite a bit, prince." Lyssa bowed to Dakar.

"It's a pleasure to receive you, Master Jedi." Dakar bowed in kind.

"This is my padawan apprentice, Nemic Korin." Lyssa gestured to her pupil.

"This is your first time here is it not, Master Korin?" Ukare asked the young Zabrak warmly.

"Yes, Lord Ukare." Nemic bowed respectfully. "Thank you for having us."

"The pleasure is mine." Ukare turned to lead the group away from the pad. "Please follow me."

The Agarian sovereigns, the Jedi, and the crimson guard all moved in unison away from the YT-40 transport to begin their long walk down the bridge to the palace.

"I for one am grateful you are here." Ukare noted to the Jedi indirectly as they walked. "These talks with the Republic are always a bit strenuous."

"You understand our reason for being there then?" Lyssa asked diplomatically.

"Of course. It was quite clear in your transmission." Ukare replied. "Many of the outlying systems are nervous of our recent military buildup. This wasn't unexpected."

"We are here to assuage fears, King Ukare, not to pass judgment." Lyssa clarified.

"Of course. This is why the New Republic asked the Jedi to send a friend." Ukare looked at her with a broad warm smile.

"As you know, the Jedi are in favor of the alliance of the New Republic." Lyssa noted in stride. "But we are not biased towards them. We are here as impartial observers and, if necessary, as mediators."

"Certainly. You know we've always maintained good relations with the New Republic." Ukare responded. "Even three hundred years after the fall of the Empire the Republic has never returned to what it once was. With all the blood that has been spilled to restore it we remain held together by what sometimes seems like sheer will."

"Well, some of the other systems seem to be weary of the alliance but Agara has always been the New Republic's most staunch supporter." Lyssa replied.

"A common defense and a sense of order leads to peace and prosperity." Ukare stated, almost as a slogan.

"Yes." Lyssa exhaled. "I noticed the new red armored soldiers in your military. You seem to be expanding your defenses into different specialties."

"Our Elite Guard." Ukare explained. "The best of our forces. You flew over the assembly grounds I presume? Yes, while we supply the Republic with our share of soldiers, we've expanded our own system defense."

"And you've added a number of capital ships as well. Some might see them as potentially supplanting the New Republic Fleet in the region." Lyssa stated.

"The same can be said of the Mon Calamari, the Trade Federation, or the Corellians." Ukare countered.

"Again, I am just addressing concerns." Lyssa replied. "This is nothing new as you know. Every time a certain region builds up their forces, they ask us for some level of mediation. Palpatine sowed a lot of distrust. Three hundred years later we're still living with his legacy."

"Kelet and Malistare have no problems with it." Prince Dakar finally spoke up. "We've had the best relations in centuries of late. It was only last month that we helped Malistare with a mining accident."

"Yes, I read the report." Lyssa responded. "That was quite the undertaking."

"A bulk of our cruisers are still there helping with the recovery. The buildup of our forces was something we've had in progress for some time." Ukare stated. "And it was done with the full knowledge and support of the Republic. The timing was also rather fortunate as well with what's been happening lately. This business on Clenestine and the supposed appearance of a Sith?"

Lyssa remained silent at first.

"Word travels fast about such things." Ukare seemed to almost smirk.

"The Jedi have shared information of what happened with the Republic." Lyssa explained. "In fact, the operation was carried out alongside Republic troops. We've just contained details of the incident with the Senate."

"Understandable." Ukare replied. "We wouldn't want a panic among the systems."

"It will surely be a matter of public knowledge soon." Lyssa added.

"Yes, and no doubt with news of a Sith Knight roaming about there may be others who might wish to bolster their defenses." Ukare said.

"Did the Sith die in the battle?" Dakar asked flatly.

Lyssa looked towards the young prince for a moment. "We believe he perished but his body has yet to be recovered." She answered somewhat gravely.

"And there may be others I hear?" Ukare pressed. "The stories I heard note more than one Sith was involved?"

"No." Lyssa replied. "There were a few… droids capable of wielding lightsabers on hand. They were exceptionally agile, able to stand against one of our best."

"Droids with lightsabers!" Ukare shook his head. "Who would have imagined?"

"It's perverse!" Nemic finally spoke.

"It's not without precedent though. General Grievous was pretty much a droid and was not a force adept." Lyssa explained.

Lyssa looked ahead down the wide stone bridge. They were almost at the tall entry to the palace. The rhythmic stride of the crimson troopers marching with them suddenly became more apparent to her.

"But Grievous was a cyborg." Ukare countered.

"And in the end, he was bested by a blaster." Dakar added coldly.

"Sometimes one makes do with what's at hand, my son." Ukare looked towards Dakar. The King then turned his attention back to Lyssa. "You mentioned Sheev Palpatine. Years after the Empire and the First Order and the like there are still a great many beings in the galaxy who don't trust the Jedi. This is something also a product of Palpatine's scheming. Those who know the history of what happened believe that Darth Vader was not just an example of Palpatine's treachery but also of Jedi incompetence. Some of them do anyway. And then there's that business with Kylo Ren…."

"The dark side is difficult for the Jedi to see." Lyssa stated. "The Jedi of the era were arrogant with Anakin Skywalker, yes. The Order was split into three for the very reasons you're saying – to prevent another Kylo Ren or Darth Vader from coming to power."

"Yet you understand the apprehension the galaxy has when they hear of this new Sith?" Dakar added.

"Knowledge is like wildfire, Master Anotta. Difficult to contain." Ukare pressed. "You Jedi possess the same skills as the Sith. All it takes to create a Sith is for one to fall to the common weakness of succumbing to anger or fear. Is that correct?"

Lyssa hesitated to reply. "It is."

"This is a common failing in many, Lyssa." Ukare looked and spoke to her in a warm, almost paternal, manner. "With the power the Jedi wield…."

"We fully understand the dangers, King Ukare." Lyssa bit back cautiously. The King's words, while caring, were bordering on condescending.

"And the Jedi are quite numerous now, yes?" Ukare went on.

"We are nowhere near as many during the height of the Republic but, yes, there are more than a few of us." Lyssa replied.

"Then you can understand our position in building our military." Ukare noted, turning his eyes forward. "All of us in the New Republic love the Jedi and greatly appreciate your presence, but no one wants to be too reliant on your Order. This Sith just amplifies that sentiment."

"The Jedi have the Sith under control." Lyssa said in an assuring tone. "The Jedi are aware of their presence now and we have security measures in place to prevent what happened during the rise of the Empire."

"But that begs one question, Master Jedi." Ukare looked again at Lyssa.

"What is that, your majesty?" Lyssa asked.

"What if what's ahead unfolds differently than what occurred during Palpatine's rise?" Ukare asked bluntly.

The group entered the opening of the palace. Inside was an ornate white and gold trimmed lobby, tastefully designed in soft tones. A number of turbolift doors stood several feet away.

"I see your point." Lyssa turned to face Ukare and Dakar.

"This is why we've taken a keener approach to defense." Ukare explained. "The future, as you Jedi often point out, is unclear."

A group of palace attendants in blue uniforms approached the group from the side. The one at the head of the group held a brushed silver datapad.

"If you would, my palace staff will show you to your quarters." Ukare gracefully gestured to the attendants. "We can resume this discussion again after you're rested and can take advantage a bit of our hospitality."

"Yes, thank you, your highness." Lyssa bowed.

Nemic bowed in kind. Ukare and Dakar bowed slightly in return before turning away. The sovereigns walked away with their intimidating group of elite guard marching with them.

Lyssa and Nemic followed the palace attendants towards the turbolifts.

The Jedi were escorted up to their guest quarters by the attendants. Once on their floor they were led through sunlit white stone corridors with subtle geometric lines etched into their walls. A few potted green plants were set into wall planters along the route. Natural sunlight came from a long window that ran the length of an outer corridor nearby and a few skylights above.

Finally, a tan door slid open ahead of them, allowing the Jedi entry into a spacious suite, decorated similarly to the white and tan corridors.

"Your suite, Master Jedi." One of the female attendants gestured with a hand into the room.

"Thank you." Lyssa responded as she and Nemic entered the suite.

"A droid will be up shortly with your bags. Please let us know if there's anything you need." The attendant added.

"Thank you." Nemic replied.

The attendant bowed once more before leaving with the other staff members. The tan metal door slid closed with them gone.

"Interesting person this King Ukare." Nemic noted, looking around to the lavish accommodations. "He seems to want to impress us with luxury."

"I've known Ukare for some time. It's his way." Lyssa replied. "These surroundings are… uncomfortable."

"I don't know. I could grow to appreciate this." Nemic grinned.

"Personal preference I suppose." Lyssa looked out the window towards the majestic view of the mountains and surrounding forest. "I grew up on an outer rim planet with relatively nothing. Material possession and want are still discouraged by the Jedi."

"Yes Master." Nemic noted respectfully.-

"Still…." Lyssa sat down on the white couch. Clearly by her expression it was a very comfortable couch. "… they are nice accomodations."

"Do you believe Ukare is trying to gain your favor, Master?" Nemic asked.

"Oh, certainly." Lyssa replied confidently. "Knowing Ukare, yes, I'd say so. And that bridge – it was designed intentionally for the reason he used it. To escort us all that way without having a nice long conversation? Unlikely. When his predecessors built this palace that landing pad was intentionally designed for that purpose. Ukare likes to talk. He hopes he can get more information from us because he believes knowledge is power."

"That's not entirely inaccurate." Nemic stated.

Lyssa stood back up. She walked to the nearby kitchen and got herself a glass of water.

"Ukare is building up his military and it's making others in the Republic nervous." Lyssa went on. "We must be cautious in how we approach him. Ukare may seem jovial on the outside but he's also a bit paranoid. No doubt the recent unrest in the Republic has inspired him to bolster his defenses."

"Those elite Stormtroopers were a bit much." Nemic said. "They remind me of the old Imperial Guard. And having so many march with us in escort?"

"Everything Ukare does is on purpose." Lyssa explained. "We need to ease his concerns but at the same time convey the concerns of other neighboring systems at his growing military." Lyssa removed a communicator from a small pocket on her belt. She raised the small cylindrical device to her mouth and pressed the call key. "Em, you read me?"

"Yes Master Anotta." A male droid's voice answered.

"How's the ship? Locked down?"

"Yes Master Anotta. Everything's fine here." Em replied.

"Good. Keep yourself linked to the ship in standby mode. And keep your passive sensors sharp for anything odd. No active scans though!" Lyssa noted sharply.

"Yes, of course."

"Talk to you soon." Lyssa closed the line and put the comlink back in her belt pouch.

"At least we have eyes on the outside." Nemic noted. "Do you anticipate trouble?"

"No, but I want to be prepared." Lyssa stood up from the couch and walked to the entry of her room. "I'm sure that dinner this evening will offer us another chance to speak in a relaxing tone with Ukare. I am going to get ready. Please send the droid to my room with my travel bag when he arrives."

"There was one more thing, Master." Nemic called after her.

Lyssa turned around to again face her padawan.

"When we arrived, I sensed a disturbance in the force." Nemic noted seriously. "A darkness. It was only brief, but I did feel it."

"Are you certain?" Lyssa asked seriously.

"Yes, Master."

Lyssa closed her eyes for a moment, reaching out through the force. "I don't feel anything." She said, her eyes still closed. "There's an… uncertainty…. but… " her green eyes opened to look at his. "I don't sense it, no."

Nemic sighed, trying to sense if he had been wrong somehow.

"If it is something, we must remain cautious and alert." Lyssa added. "The dark side has a way of masking its presence from us. And considering the events recently with Darth Syrik we should remain vigilant. Get some rest. We'll meet back here in a few hours before dinner."

"Yes master." Nemic nodded. He then walked off to his own separate room at the opposite end of the suite's common living area.

Coruscant.

It had been three centuries since the end of the reign of Palpatine. The seat of government for generations prior to the Empire, the Republic Senate had since left after Palpatine's fall, first to the ill-fated Hosnian Prime and then on to other Core Worlds.

The old Jedi Temple and Imperial Palace loomed on the distance ahead of the airspeeder Jedi Master Ayvan Ezen was piloting. Coruscant, while it had lost some of its regal luster in several sectors, remained a thriving world for commerce, government, and the arts. Airspeeder traffic was still heavy, though not as densely packed as during the days of the Old Republic. Ayvan looked ahead towards the Jedi Temple. It had been refitted by the Emperor, though all of its accursed red Imperial banners had been taken down long ago. Ayvan considered visiting the temple. While the three Jedi Orders had opted to relocate elsewhere, the Triumvirate Order still maintained the extensive archive at the Coruscant Temple. Even Palpatine had protected the wealth that information provided. Aside from the archive, none of the Orders wanted to reside there. Too many ghosts lingered in those halls – and pockets of the dark side remained from Palpatine's time there as his residence.

Ayvan instead turned the airspeeder towards another distant part of the city planet. It was more of a residential area with a corridor of markets, restaurants, lounges, and nightclubs running through its center. Ayvan turned his airspeeder down from the floating traffic corridors towards the urbanized surface. He found a parking zone with a few empty spots and set his airspeeder to hover down into the parking lot. The gullwing driver side door opened, allowing the Jedi Master to exit.

Ayvan had cut his black hair short for the trip. He also dressed more in standard garb rather than a typical Jedi tunic and robes. Dressed in dark grey and brown slacks and shirt, a shortened olive drab cloak wrapped around Ayvan's shoulders, falling about midleg more like a jacket that wrapped over his arms. He pulled the hood of his cloak over his head, with his ruby red eyes peering out from the covering. He walked away from his speeder over the asphalt surface towards the nearby shops. The gullwing door of the speeder closed automatically as Ayvan pointed a small remote back at the vehicle behind him to set it to lock.

The sky overhead was overcast. A rumble of thunder shook from above, heralding a possible downpour. Rain and other weather patterns weren't uncommon on Coruscant even though the planet lacked ecosystems. Weather was, by and large, a regulated system produced by the planetary climate terraform control. Raw heat, moisture, cold, and the like were artificially fed by massive towers or huge factory-like structures into the skyscraper lined sky. Even a city planet needed to be cleansed by the rains and have some means of thermal regulation.

Ayvan blended in with the patrons of the open-air shopping zone. Various species and droids walked through the neon accented bazaar. Ayvan's first stop was at a grilled endwa stand – he was hungry after his trip. A busy Twi'lek male in a white apron worked busily at the center of the endwa stand, stirring and mixing the core world red meat in seasoned woks. Flames shot up around the wide pans as he cooked. A pair of aged boxy droids moved along the outer ring of the large stand, taking orders from patrons sitting on the stools around the perimeter countertop.

The stool, extended from a retractable arm from the side of the food stand, creaked as Ayvan sat down at the lunch counter. A middle-aged Falleen male in a business suit sitting next to Ayvan briefly glanced his way but then returned to his own plate of food.

One of the droid servers hurried over to Ayvan. "Order?" it asked simply.

Ayvan scanned the menu on the holographic screen above. "Give me a number six and a medium iced sollenis."

The droid hurried off to another task. The order was relayed electronically to the Twi'lek cook's que. A few moments later the droid returned with Ayvan's beverage in a brushed silver canister.

"Here you go. Drink." The droid said simplistically as it handed Ayvan the beverage canister.

The Klatoonian on the other side of Ayvan shifted in his seat and looked sideways at him. "You look familiar, sir." The Klatoonian grumbled in basic at Ayvan.

"I'm no one important." Ayvan countered with a casual mind trick, all the while keeping his red eyes looking blankly ahead.

The Klatoonian returned to his own business, staring at a worn datapad.

The droid returned with Ayvan's dish; several red medallions of meat in a salt and onion seasoning with green vegetables. "Food." The droid noted as it set the plate down in front of Ayvan.

"Thanks." The Jedi replied casually, picking up his fork to eat. The seasoned beef tasted great, especially after having not eaten for a while.

As he ate, Ayvan silently thought of his reason for traveling to Coruscant. An information source had noted some odd Jedi-like activity in that sector of Coruscant, though no one in any of the three Orders had been there at the time. Considering the encounter he, Obi-wan Shai, and Nash Corino had on Clenestine with Darth Syrik, he figured the information could be a solid lead on other threats to the Jedi or the galaxy as a whole. There still remained the mystery if Darth Syrik and who might have trained him.

Ayvan inserted his scandoc into a small console at the edge of the counter in front of him. Credits were subtracted for his food. He continued eating, taking in his surroundings as he enjoyed his meal. The massive towers that loomed beyond the commerce district were an urban splendor, trimmed in subtle neon and the lights of thousands upon thousands of dwellings. The bazaar around him was a mix of beings and droids from around the galaxy. There was nothing odd that the Jedi sensed among any of the many people shopping and eating around him.

There was a beep from his comlink. Ayvan ate the last morsel of his food before setting down his stainless plate. Looking at the com screen he saw a notice from his contact.

The meet-up was set. Ayvan took a final drink from his beverage canister before setting it down for good on the serving counter. He then got up and walked back into the crowds moving through the bazaar.

The clouds overhead rumbled again. Ayvan cold sense something minor through the force but he didn't let it distract him as he moved with the crowds. A silver protocol droid in a hurry bumped his shoulder. Two Itthorians, likely parents, were tending to an adolescent of their species who was getting out of hand. Probably a bit late for children to be out, Ayvan thought.

The message noted the area where Ayvan was to meet his contact. It was purposely out of the way and on a rooftop. Ayvan climbed a wide set of stairs that wrapped around a mixed ground floor storefront and upper story dwelling. Rain started to fall lightly, coating all the dark tone duracrete walls and surfaces with a glimmering sheen.

Ayvan pulled his hood over his head as he reached the roof of the building. The rooftop was as broad as any building footprint in the area, with a large surface dotted with vaporators and venting units. There was a sizeable urbanized valley ahead of Ayvan with rows of tall skyscrapers looming beyond. Even though the massive towers were kilometers away they still stood high enough that one had to look almost directly up to see the tops of them. Rain fell across the entire expanse, making the distance to the towers seem all the more imposing.

A lone figure silhouetted against the bright towers stood ahead of Ayvan. The Jedi Knight approached cautiously.

"You're Andos?" Ayvan noted in a calmed tone as he stood near the figure.

The silhouetted man turned around to face Ayvan.

"Master Ezen?"Andos asked, his arms folded behind his back.

Andos was a humanoid male, probably fifty or so years old, with greying hair and a thin frame. Beneath his long raincoat he seemed to be wearing tailored businesswear.

"You have information for me?" Ayvan asked.

Andos stared at Ayvan for a moment. "Yes, thank you for coming, Master Jedi."

The thin businessman took a few calm steps towards Ayvan, standing a few feet in front of him.

"I've never met a true Jedi Knight before." Andos noted.

"There was a time when we were everywhere." Ayvan noted as a half-joke.

"Interestingly, I believe I have some information on your Lost Order." Andos replied.

Ayvan straightened in his stance slightly. "The Lost Order is a myth."

"There were known survivors of Order 66. Kanan Jarus, Yoda, Obi-wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano." Andos countered.

"Known survivors." Ayvan corrected him. "The Lost Order isn't even an order if the legends are true. The story is a few Padawans and a Master Jedi or two escaped and went into hiding. Forever."

"Rather than return and fight a battle they knew they would lose they instead chose to remain underground, ignoring the rise and fall of the Empire, the First Order, and others who followed, instead opting to secretly restore their numbers." Andos continued the legend.

"In over three hundred years there hasn't been any conclusive evidence of the Lost Order." Ayvan replied. "The Jedi have been restored. The Rykane, Ezen, and Skywalker Orders have brought us back from extinction. The Lost Order surely would have seen this and come out of hiding decades ago."

"You're ignoring one possibility though." Andos noted.

"What's that?"

"What if the Lost Order no longer trusts the Jedi?" Andos grinned. "Think about it. Your number is nowhere near what it once was. You admitted this yourself. And, according to lore, the Jedi allowed the Sith to rise beneath them, ignoring even the most obvious warning signs."

"The Sith… are cunning in their ability to mask themselves." Ayvan responded cautiously. "And, yes, the Jedi of the era were blinded by their overconfidence. This is why we split the order in three. I still find it hard to believe that anyone from a 'Lost Order' wouldn't have shown themselves by now."

"I've been studying them for a while. Honestly, I have been studying the history of the Jedi." Andos admitted. "It's a bit of a hobby of mine. I'm an ordinary offworld merchant by trade but being a native of this planet I've found the history of the Jedi interesting."

"You should visit the archive at the old Jedi Temple then. Plenty of information there." Ayvan stated.

"I have. And it's a gift that the archive is available to the public." Andos smiled back. "Also, as it was Palpatine's Imperial Palace there is some bit of history there."

Ayvan stared at Andos with his red eyes from behind his cloak. He seemed agitated that the meetup was essentially with a Jedi enthusiast.

"Why not relay this by HoloNet? Why the meeting? Honestly, this information could have been relayed that way just as easily." Ayvan stated.

"Master Ezen! I was led to believe the Jedi were renowned for their patience." Andos again grinned. "The reason I asked you to come here is that I don't believe the Lost Order fled Coruscant at all. I believe the Lost Order existed here, this whole time, deep beneath the city planet right under the nose of Palpatine, the Empire, the New Republic – everyone!"

"What leads you to believe this?" Ayvan pressed.

"Observation. Word of mouth." Andos replied. "The larger a group becomes the more difficult it becomes to maintain a secret. I haven't any definitive evidence or witnesses as the Lost Order I imagine are still adept at covering their trail. I can only point you in a direction."

Ayvan stared at Andos for a while. It seemed like a very hollow lead. Andos could have very well been an overenthusiastic Jedi admirer. For all Ayvan knew the information could have been simply something Andos made up; either wishful thinking or flights of fancy based on poor observation or information.

"I don't know of where they may be on this planet." Andos continued. "You could spend several lifetimes searching Coruscant and find nothing. I do know one thing, though. One of my merchant crewmen on a vessel I own noted something peculiar on the planet Agara Prime. One of the Lost Order may be hiding there or, perhaps, has been traveling there from time to time."

"Agara Prime is pretty large itself." Ayvan noted.

"I wish I had better information. All I know is that my ship noted an odd traveler using the route on several occasions, sometimes accompanied by another being. I do have one thing though." Andos reached into his jacket pocket. He produced a small datachip. "An image of one of them. It was taken from a security feed on one of my ships, the _Nomad Star_."

Ayvan took the chip and pulled out his standard coms from his belt. He inserted the chip into the coms' reader, bringing up a short video clip on a holographic screen. It was of a dark-haired man in regular clothes accompanying another humanoid woman, also with dark hair. Their manner of dress seemed typical for the Inner Core worlds. There didn't seem anything unremarkable about them. It wasn't until the woman turned around a corner that a small silver and black cylinder near the woman's waist, tucked into her jacket, caught Ayvan's eye. It was a lightsaber. The image automatically froze on the frame where the lightsaber became visible under her jacket and zoomed in on the weapon handle.

It was a lightsaber sure enough.

Ayvan deactivated the holoscreen and put the coms unit back on his belt.

"You can keep the chip." Andos noted with a slight gesture of his hand.

"What makes you think these are Jedi?" Ayvan pressed. "A lightsaber is a Jedi's weapon but in years past it hasn't been uncommon for non-Jedi to wield them."

"Non-Jedi re typically not good at wielding them. They usually end up in some hospital or med station with a nasty wound or a severed limb." Andos smirked. Seeing the joke was lost on Ayvan he adopted a serious expression again. "As I said I have no evidence. This is just a possible lead. Given the recent military build-up by the Agarans there might be something there."

"The Jedi are already paying attention to Agara – at the behest of the Republic." Ayvan noted. "It's not too uncommon. The New Republic is still a strained alliance. We've been acting as diplomats among member worlds."

"But if these aren't truly Jedi…." Andos began to argue.

Ayvan gave the matter some thought. After a few moments of silence, he nodded his head slightly in agreement. "We'll look into it. Thank you."

Andos nodded slightly in respect. "Glad I might be of help. Honestly, a part of me hopes It's nothing. After the Sith that was spotted on Clenestine…."

"You know about that?" Ayvan stared back at him.

"It's not a well-kept secret, Master Jedi." Ando noted. "I've contracted the _Triple Nova _before and news like that gets around the trades pretty fast.

"That Sith is dead." Ayvan noted.

"And I hope these people aren't related to that." Andos nodded slightly. "Good evening, Master Ezen." Andos turned to make his leave. Without looking back, he added "may the force be with you."

Ayvan looked at his mobile coms unit, replying also indirectly to Andos. "May the force be with you, Mister Andos."

Ayvan pocketed his com unit again and walked away via a separate exit of the roof.

The rain picked up as Ayvan walked back through the neon bazaar. He pulled the hood of his short poncho-like cloak over his head to try and keep himself dry. The rain thinned out the crowds moving through the promenades a little. The endwa stand where he had eaten extended a ring of metal panel canopies to keep their patrons covered from the rain.

As Ayvan neared the airspeeder lot he began to sense a powerful disturbance in the force. He was apprehensive at first but quickly gained control over his fear. He pushed on. Once at the airspeeder lot he was met with an imposing sight.

A seven-foot-tall being, well over two meters in height, stood in the center of the lot waiting for him. The creature was humanoid and muscular with ornate crimson and copper armor. The decorative pattern in its armor was truly a work of art. Its exposed skin was a thick greyish green with coloration similar to a reptile. Its body was like a Trandoshan's, only with broad ears and a more demonic cranial structure. Broad pointed ears extended from the sides of its head and a thick orbital bone structure hung over its amber slit eyes. Its feet were also bare from the shins down, also like a Trandoshan, with similar dragon-like feet.

In its clawed four fingered hand it held the silver and copper trimmed handle of a lightsaber.

"You're one of them, aren't you?" the creature spoke in a grave tone.

Ayvan, sensing the being was evil and wished him harm, pulled out his own lightsaber handle.

"You probably have me mistaken for someone else." Ayvan noted sternly back. "Who are you?"

"Zashad." The tall muscular demon noted back. "You're not who I thought you were. You're merely another Jedi." The beast activated an amber lightsaber blade; its blade sizzled as it was touched by the falling rain.

Ayvan energized his green saber blade and held it up at his side.

Zashad charged.

Ayvan was able to block the opening hard downward chop with his saber. Immediately, Zashad's strength with each charged blow was impressive – but Ayvan quickly adapted.

Calming his own fear and maintaining clarity through the force, Ayvan blocked two strikes at his sides and slashed at his taller foe. Ayvan rotated from another downward chop, which missed him and instead cut down through the hood of an airspeeder.

Zashad blocked a backhanded slash from the Jedi beyond his right shoulder, then two more cuts from Ayvan's green blade meant for his head and waist. An upward cut from the amber blade missed Ayvan. They traded several more fierce strikes, with Ayvan pushed backwards towards another airspeeder behind him. The Jedi flipped backwards over the vehicle. Zashad, with the force, hurled another airspeeder at Ayvan. The Jedi evaded with blinding speed, escaping the heavy vehicle as it crashed violently into the speeders behind where he had been.

Ayvan seemed to vanish for a moment in the rain, but then quickly appeared to Zashad's right. The Jedi took a bounding leap from the rain soaked top of another speeder, launching himself and his glowing green lightsaber at the armored demon. Zashad blocked a leaping downward chop from the Jedi, shoving Ayvan aside in the follow through. Zashad chopped down with his amber blade for the back of Ayvan's neck but the green blade blocked at the last instant.

Ayvan leaned away from another downward chop, traded a chain of quick strikes around his body with the demon, then in a flash of green light cut off Zashad's right hand. The demon reeled. Its lightsaber deactivated as it was still in the grasp of the severed right arm.

The demon backed away and growled, holding its severed right stump of an arm. Its serrated white teeth gleaned as it grimaced in pain.

"Yield!" Ayvan commanded as he held his green lightsaber blade out towards Zashad.

The demon, having regained some composure, continued to glare angrily at Ayvan.

"This isn't over!" Zashad growled.

"It is for you!" Ayvan countered with conviction.

A small transport vessel appeared overhead, its repulsors screaming in the rain and neon light. A rear ramp to the shuttle opened. Two mechanical devices at the sides of the shuttle moved. Through the blinding glare Ayvna realized they were blaster cannons.

The Jedi leapt away as a staccato burst of red blaster fire rained down fiercely into the airspeeder lot. Airspeeders exploded around Ayvan but he managed to keep sight of Zashad as the tall demon leaped up into the rear ramp of the shuttle hovering above.

In a moment the rear ramp of the shuttle closed, and the vehicle rocketed away on two glowing blue-white thursters.

Ayvan was alone in the rain with burning airspeeders around him, including his own. Certain he was safe, the green lightsaber blade in his hand closed with a shink back into its handle.

After taking a few deep breaths to calm himself Ayvan pulled out his comlink.

"Nash, do you read me?" Ayvan asked.

"Yeah, go ahead." Nash Corino's voice called back over the com. "You alright?"

"I was attacked by something. Maybe another Sith." Ayvan noted into the com. "Get Coruscant security down here and bring the _Ward_ around. Is Obi-wan with you?"

"Yes, he's here." Nash's voice replied.

"Get ready to travel. After we're done with Coruscant Security we'll have to be moving along." Ayvan stated.

"What was it that attacked you?" Nash spoke almost in a demanding tone that held obvious concern.

"I don't know, but I have its right arm and its lightsaber." Ayvan looked down at the two items lying on the rain-soaked asphalt.

A few hours passed, more time than Ayvan Ezen would have wanted. He wanted to get to Agara Prime as quickly as possible. Coruscant security had interviewed him for a while regarding the incident at the airpseeder parking zone. Had he not been a Jedi Knight claiming to be on important business they might have held him longer for questioning.

The rain had stopped, The sun was coming up over that section of Coruscant, casting the massive urban valleys in long shadows framed in bright orange and amber. Ayvan stood on the top of a broad landing pad within a large security force compound. The soldiers walking throughout the compound wore the same tan and black uniform of the New Republic Army.

The _Ward_ swooped down from the busy dawn sky towards the landing pad. The recently refitted fork-shaped vessel turned slowly down in a sideways arc, reaching down to the landing pad with its four large landing struts. The two forward-swept wings of the green and grey vessel folded upward, allowing the attached rear section to split apart and extend a boarding ramp.

Ayvan, still in his short dark green urban cloak and dark grey garb, rushed out over the landing pad towards the _Ward_. His right arm held on to the handle at the top of a long, bushed silver cylinder. As soon as he was inside the vessel, the _Ward_ floated upwards on its shrieking repulsorlifts.

Obi-wan Shai sat at the command station flying the craft. He continued to opt to wear standard humanoid clothing rather than Jedi robes; brown slacks with a blue padded shirt and long white sleeves with Republic military boots. Though he was highly skilled in the force and trained as a Jedi he truly wasn't one and felt he shouldn't wear their garments. Also, considering the Sith that had attacked his family and killed his mother and father, he felt it was better to look like everyday beings.

Nash Corino sat next to Obi-wan in the copilot seat. Though he was the more experienced pilot he felt that Obi-wan could use some more experience under his belt. Also, it gave Nash the opportunity to relax and simply observe Obi-wan as a supervisor of sorts.

Obi-wan flipped a group of switches overhead. He looked out to the Coruscant cityscape beyond the ship, still impressed by the giant structures and the expanse of the massive urbanized planet.

"You never been here have you?" Nash asked, having noted Obi-wan's expression.

"No." Obi-wan said, piloting the _Ward_ over the city and throttling up to cruising speed. "Looks a lot like Corellia."

"Only Corellia is much dirtier." Nash added. "Maybe next time we'll have time to look around."

"It would be nice." Obi-wan noted, turning the _Ward_'s nose towards the sky.

As the _Ward_ sped up and shot upward towards space, Ayvan walked into the cockpit from the door at the back.

"Obi-wan. Nash." The Jedi Knight greeted them in kind.

"Your meeting was productive I understand?" Nash quipped as a half-joke.

"Understatement as humor, Mister Corino." Ayvan nodded, half-mocking him.

Obi-wan was far more concerned. "What was it that attacked you?! A Sith?!"

"I don't know, but I have his arm." Ayvan raised the large cylinder container in his hand. "I need you to stay in orbit for a bit while I uplink to the archive at the old Jedi Temple here on Coruscant."

"Can't you do that from hyperspace?" Nash asked.

"Yes, but it's more efficient, and secure, to do it here." Ayvan explained.

"Why not just take it to the Jedi Temple personally?" Obi-wan pressed.

"I can analyze the limb from here just as well. Besides, I'm not too keen on the Coruscant temple. Too many shadows of the dark side linger there." Ayvan turned back away from the cockpit and walked back to the lounge at the back of the ship.

Obi-wan stood up to follow him.

After their encounter with Darth Syrik on Clenestine, the _Ward_ had undergone a major upgrade. In some sense it was arguable to say the ship could have been called _The Ward II_ as the retrofit was substantial enough to practically call it a new ship. The vessel had been cut along its dorsal line, allowing the ship's frame to literally be stretched to add for a new lounge at the back, a few sleeping modules, and a small additional cargo area. The _Ward_ now bore a slight resemblance to the old U-wings, only it was nearly light freighter sized with more angular dagger shaped forward-swept wings. New exterior turbolaser cannons were also added under the wings, as was a small concussion missile launcher under the vessel and a gun turret up top.

Ayvan folded down a compartment on the wall of the lounge. Behind the wall panel was a science station. The fold down top acted as a worktable with the computer system behind it allowing a number of various uplinks. Ayvan slid open the brushed side of the cylinder, revealing the floating severed four-fingered reptilian forearm and hand of the warrior he had defeated earlier within the glass sided tube.

"Wow!" Obi-wan noted aloud as he saw the severed limb.

"That's pleasant." Nash grumbled at the sight of the arm.

Ayvan plugged an uplink line to the side of the cylinder and set it on the table. The computer went to work scanning the limb.

Nash looked at his own hand and outstretched fingers, then looked at the floating severed hand. "How big was that thing?" he asked.

"About as tall as a Wookie." Ayvan answered indirectly, still attending to his work.

"Scary!" Obi-wan looked at the grey and green flesh of the arm.

"We must push aside our fears when confronting such things." Ayvan noted in his typical manner as a Jedi Master. "But, yes, it was very intimidating!"

Ayvan stood back as the computer began to operate. A hologram projector powered up, displaying the progress of the exam in midair over the lounge. Aurebesh characters noted the uplink to the Jedi Temple archives and that a connection was underway. An initial biologic scan of the tissue produced a double-helix DNA model which the computer compared against existing models in the Jedi archives. A succession of species flashed quickly in the field of vision. Ayvan expected a match right away but the length of time it began to take made him warry.

"It usually take this long?" Obi-wan asked.

"We can technically do this from many parts of the galaxy. It's just easier to do it here in orbit of Coruscant." Ayvan replied calmly, his crimson iris eyes fixed on the data results on the floating hologram projection.

A final result was displayed. 'No Known Match.'

"That's impossible!" Ayvan moved quickly towards the machine interface. His fingers began working the keyboard set in the top of the workstation.

"Why is that odd? You Jedi can't know everything can you?" Nash asked.

"The Jedi Archive is a collection of data from over several millennia. It's vast and its value is immeasurable. Even Palpatine, after wiping the Jedi out, still maintained the archive." Ayvan explained, his fingers still working.

"What are you doing?" Obi-wan asked.

"Adjusting the precision of the scan. Maybe we can get close to what we're looking for." Ayvan replied. He stepped back and ran the scan again.

A result appeared much more quickly. A holographic image of Master Yoda appeared in the viewing area.

"Yoda!" Obi-wan straightened in his posture.

"Yes." Ayvan noted in a somewhat stunned breath. "I can kind of see the resemblance."

The archive listed three members of Yoda's race: Yoda himself, Master Yaddle, and another named Teryss who lived a few hundred years before Palpatine's rise to power. The name of the race itself was noted as 'Unknown.'

"No one knew the name of Master Yoda's race?" Obi-wan asked with some shock.

"No." Ayvan answered flatly. "He never spoke of it. He never disclosed it. It was a secret."

"A Jedi with secrets. That never ends well." Nash quipped.

Ayvan turned a sideways smirk at Nash before continuing. "No one at the time thought it was a big deal. Master Yoda and Yaddle were hundreds of years old. It was generally assumed they were the last of their race or rare beings in general. There was a rumor that there were very few of them and that they were ALL force sensitive – and that that was the reason their identity and homeworld remained a secret."

"But this doesn't look like the creature you described." Obi-wan pointed at the holo-image of Yoda.

"No, but there are quite a number of similar genetic markers. They are probably an ancient offshoot of the same race." Ayvan's tone was rather grim. "The galaxy could very well be in great danger."

"Two Sith in such a short amount of time…" Obi-wan began.

"I don't think what I fought was a Sith." Ayvan interrupted him.

"Why do you say that?" Nash asked.

"Because I think he was wearing a uniform." Ayvan answered. "His armor was ornate, yes, but I got a sense it was also utilitarian."

"That makes no sense." Nash countered.

"It was decorative but practical. Maybe that's a better word." Ayvan corrected himself. "It seemed made for combat. Hands and feet were bare but his thick hide and clawed hands and feet seemed more suited to battle. The way it was cut allowed for good movement. The design itself, I don't know, was like something you'd imagine a number of soldiers wearing. And, on top of that, he had an armed vessel aide in his escape."

"Those could have been mercenaries or pirates maybe." Obi-wan stated.

"Both of those groups tend to talk, especially if you get a few drinks in them." Ayvan argued.

"This is its right hand. You got its weapon?" Nash asked.

Ayvan reached into his robe and pulled out a lightsaber handle. It looked nothing like any of them had seen. Its brushed silver casing was detailed in a discolored burnt copper trim, somewhat ornate in its design like the wielders armor. Sensing Obi-wan's curiosity he extended it to him to examine. Obi-wan took the blade handle and studied it closely.

"Beautiful!" Obi-wan marveled at the artistry.

Ayvan took a step back as Obi-wan activated the weapon. A bright amber blade shrieked to life.

"Be careful. It's a little longer than a regular lightsaber blade." Ayvan noted.

Obi-wan turned the humming blade cautiously in his hand. Though lightsabers had negligible weight when activated it seemed heavier somehow as he turned the amber blade in careful humming motions.

"It feels like it's hotter." Obi-wan noted. "I've never seen an amber blade."

"They do radiate a little heat unlike other blade hues." Ayvan stated. "It makes it an unpopular color."

"But your baddie doesn't seem to care." Nash noted.

Obi-wan closed down the amber blade and handed the handle back to Ayvan.

"No. Maybe he's more adapted to it. His skin was pretty thick. It reminded me of species we find on hot planets."

"The Weequay." Nash offered.

"Exactly, yes." Ayvan responded.

It was then that a sense of dread passed through Ayvan. He remained calm but fell silent. It was a powerful sense of premonition.

"We need to get to Agara Prime, quickly!" Ayvan shut down the scanner and hurried off towards the cockpit.

Nash and Obi-wan glanced at each other for a moment, rather stunned, then hurried to follow Ayvan towards the front of the ship. Within a few moments Ayvan was at the left seat controls of the _Ward_. He entered in the calculations for a hyperjump to Agara Prime. The _Ward_ banked away from the busy city planet of Coruscant and raced out into open space, shooting forward into hyperspace.

Lyssa Anota walked out into the large domed hall. The chamber was the size of a cathedral, with a broad and very high hemispherical ceiling. The lights were dim in the chamber, making it easier to see the holographic representation of the galaxy. A lone figure stood in the center of the chamber, wearing a long black cape as he stood next to the tall hologram projector in the center of the stellar mapping chamber.

For a moment, Prince Dakar appeared like what she imagined Darth Vader would have looked like long ago, with Dakar's long black hair appearing in silhouette as a helmet in the dim light. The prince turned, revealing his formal dress uniform of what looked like a lightweight dark version of the Agaran battle armor; black with subtle red and gold accents and a long dark maroon cape.

The prince looked on Lyssa, who was wearing a more inviting tan and white dress with darker leather accents. She looked like she was wearing a dress version of Jedi robes, yet still very feminine with a subtle hint of inner system glamour.

"Master Anota." Dakar grinned at her broadly as she walked into the light of the holoprojector. "If I might be so bold to say you look amazing this evening."

"Thank you, Prince Dakar." Lyssa replied with a warm grin. She looked up to see the model of the galaxy was outlined with bordered regions – showing where the New Republic, First Order, and other outlying systems were demarcated at the time of that conflict. "Studying old planetary system borders?"

"Just getting a grasp on history and adding in data from my own analysis." Dakar answered, looking up to the holographic model of the galaxy.

"Is this about your military buildup as well?" Lyssa pressed.

"No, just trying to get a sense of how these governments made decisions. And their ramifications." Dakar pressed a remote in his hand, changing the map of the galaxy floating above. There was a single shaded amber region that covered most of the galaxy. "This is the area of the Old Republic." Another tap of the remote control changed part of the amber hued Republic became purple. "And this is the Separatist Confederacy that broke away during the Clone Wars." Another button presses on the controller changed the hologram again, returning it to a single large mass shaded in red. "The Imperial Empire." Another change. The single red mass changed back to a large amber area with a red area that took up a third of the galaxy. A number of other colored systems appeared. "The rise of the First Order." The hologram of the galaxy changed again, with a large amber area encompassing much of the galaxy but with a lot of different colored regions, especially along the outer rim. "The present day."

Dakar looked at Lyssa again in the dim light.

"I'm just trying to figure out why some systems chose to ally themselves with different extremist systems. Raxus Secundus. Scipio. Balmorra. Why did these prosperous systems choose to take a great risk and side with the Seperatists? I understand they were all being manipulated by the Emperor, Darth Sidious, but they each had less to lose by staying with the Republic. And the Geonosians, with their initial Death Star design. With that kind of engineering capability they could have done just as well under the Republic. They acted against their own best interests."

"And their civilization was destroyed. Gassed out of existence by their 'grateful' Emperor." Lyssa added grimly.

"A tragedy, yes." Dakar replied with a shared sadness. "Part of the larger tragedy the Geonosians helped to create. Alderaan. Jedah."

"The Emperor had a way of enticing people to bend to his will. The main weapon of the Death Star was unworkable until Galen Erso figured out the physics." Lyssa replied, staring up at the holographic model of the galaxy. "Palpatine killed entire families or had them arrested to get people in those families to do his bidding. The brutality of the Empire was often without bounds."

"No system of government can survive very long if it brutalizes their own people." Dakar observed.

"I will say, Prince, that the Agaran people genuinely love you and your father." Lyssa observed. "That's rather uncommon for a monarchy."

"My father and I understand the great responsibility we have as leaders." Dakar stated. "And we try our best not to take advantage of the roles we were born into. Outsiders say it's oppressive, that we should have elected monarchs like Naboo or a more powerful parliament like New Alderaan."

"That's a discussion for you and your people." Lyssa replied. "I've known your father for some time and I know your family is good and kind. I know you listen to your people and take action based on your interactions with them. I would agree a more powerful elected representation is good for all. I know you elect your magistrates but…. that path is for Agarans to decide."

Dakar turned off the holographic map and turned towards Lyssa as the lights grew brighter in the chamber.

"The banquet's about to begin. May I escort you?" Dakar asked her warmly, extending a hand.

Lyssa looked at his arm and then smiled back warmly. "As a representative of the New Republic I'm discouraged from showing any sense of favor."

"You're in one of our most lavish suites as our guest. Certainly we expect no favor. This is understood." Dakar replied with a pleasing grin.

Lyssa looked at the young prince. He was about seven years her junior but still handsome and charming.

"Point taken." Lyssa grinned broadly back at him.

Dakar cradled her arm in his as the young prince escorted the Jedi Master out of the stellar map chamber.

A number of beings from around the galaxy mingled among the many Agaran elites gathered at the palace hall. The hall was one of many in the Palace of Agramyek, with a series of banners hanging three stories down in various earth tone colors on the side walls. Paintings and sculptures from artists within the kingdom were set between the banners. Several long wood tables, sealed in heavy clear lacquer, were set along the length of the hall. Organic place settings and dinnerware were set at each chair. While visibly organic, the décor was certainly fitting for regal and elite guests.

Nemic Korin stood near the table he had been assigned. He felt uncomfortable sitting down, as did many others in the hall, until the banquet was formally underway. An aged humanoid male in a black dress suit walked by with a beautiful blue Twi'Lek female dressed in a glimmering silver gown. A judge, Korin assumed, stood a few feet away arguing legislation with a fellow member of the justice system. Droids moved around the hall serving hors d'oeuvres and drinks. A silver humanoid droid walked near when Nemic extended a hand to its drink tray.

"Are these spirits? Stimulants or depressants?" Nemic asked.

"No sir." The droid's male voice replied politely. "It's satine."

Nemic, satisfied the drink wouldn't compromise his senses, took one of the narrow glasses and drank. He scanned the room, trying to casually observe all he could. He reached out with his feelings, hoping to sense the brief dark shadow he had felt momentarily upon arriving. All the beings around him seemed to be in their place, as they were ingrained members of this society and frequented these gatherings.

He then saw his master enter the room on the arm of Prince Dakar. Heads turned their way as they walked through the brownish orange biparting auto doors of the hall, and Nemic guessed it wasn't just because of the regal appearance of the Prince. Master Anotta looked beautiful, with a look of glamour he wasn't accustomed to seeing in his master. While her dress still held the accenting of Jedi robes they still offered Lyssa an ethereal accent of beauty.

Dakar, by contrast, appeared powerful in his black armor. If it weren't for the red and gold accenting he might have been confused for an ancient Sith.

And then he felt it again. The tinge of the dark side. His brown Zabrak eyes scanned about the room but he could sense nothing. The cold sensation left him as quickly as it arrived. Was it the Prince? Nemic looked at his master as Dakar graciously released her from his guiding arm. A broad warm smile crossed her face as she and Dakar exchanged a few light parting words. Clearly, it didn't seem to register with her as it had with Nemic – that the darkness was near.

Lyssa spotted her padawan and walked through the light crowd towards him.

"Did you sense that?" Lyssa asked Nemic, keeping her inviting grin on her face like a mask.

"You felt it as well?" Nemic asked with some shock. "It didn't look like…."

"I don't want to alarm anyone." Lyssa replied in a hushed tone, keeping her calm and pleasing outward appearance.

"It's not the prince is it?" Nemic whispered a bit too loudly, leaning towards her.

"No, it's not. It's elsewhere." She answered.

"Are you certain, Master?" Nemic pushed.

She turned her brown eyes towards his. "I'm positive. I've known Dakar since he was a child. I didn't sense anything abnormal from him."

The guests moved to their seats over time. Mingling side conversations were brought to an end. The silver humanoid serving droids moved among the crowd, politely urging guests to their seats. A long table was set at the back of the hall on an elevated platform. Three long banners hung from the vaulted ceiling above. One was representative of the Agaran monarchy; an eagle set in a semicircular c-shaped outline of a moon with two smaller dots at its borders – Agara Prime's natural satellites. The same symbol was on Dakar's black armor and all the soldier's armor as well. The banner to the lower left of the royal seal was that of the Agramyek metropolis government, also a ubiquitous symbol. At the lower right flew the banner of the New Republic – the much-recognized phoenix.

There were five seats at the royal table, with Ukare's in the middle. King Ukare had yet to arrive. The table remained empty until Prince Dakar walked up the short group of steps at the side to take his place. Dakar would sit at his father's left hand. The ends were reserved for the Prime Minister of Agara Prime and the Governor of Agramyek respectively. The seat immediately to Ukare's right was always intentionally left empty; a tribute to his late wife and Dakar's mother who had died several years prior.

Nemic looked up at the two balconies that overlooked the hall. The crimson armored elite guard stood above in two lines. Each guard was well spaced from the other and somewhat in shadow so as not to alarm guests with their intimidating appearance and their visibly slung blaster rifles. Agaran security was subtle – but not too subtle.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Nemic noted in an even tone, continuing to scan the crowd as he and his master sat down at their assigned table.

"Keep your senses keen. Trust in the force." She spoke quietly at his side as they sat down next to each other. A wealthy banker and her husband sat down next to them. Lyssa looked at her sharply dressed table companions and adopted a more pleasant voice. "Hello." She grinned at the older couple invitingly.

"Good evening." The woman, dressed in an iridescent pink gown, replied for her and her husband.

A fanfare arose from a small band set up at a far entrance. It was a welcome distraction. Everyone in attendance knew the song and its regal significance. "The Rising Star of Agara" was the anthem of the monarchy which accompanied the official arrival of the sovereign.

King Ukare entered from the entry near where the band was playing. All in attendance rose to their feet and applauded. Ukare, in a similar knightly armor to his son only white and tan with a long light brown cape, walked into the hall. He raised his right hand to wave to the crowd as he walked quickly towards the long, elevated table at the end of the hall. The room had the feel of an award dinner, with the applause of those in the chamber continuing until King Ukare reached his seat at the elevated table. He again waved to the crowd gratefully.

"Thank you!" Ukare's voice became amplified by microphones embedded into his table. "Thank you! Please! Yes, thank you. Please sit."

Everyone but the King set themselves down into their plush velvet seats.

"I am so pleased to have you all here with me this evening." Ukare smiled as he looked about at all around him. "It really is a testimony to the beauty and greatness of our kingdom that we are all here tonight, so many Aragans, and friends from off-world, from many different backgrounds to celebrate our union. At this time, I'd like to greet our delegations from the New Republic, Malastare, and the Trade Federation."

Applause grew for those groups. The New Republic was represented by three diplomats two tables away from the Jedi. They were two humanoids and a Mon Calamari. Malastare were represented by three Gran in black and violet robes. The Trade Federation were present as a Rodian, a Muun, and a Pau'an.

"As our meetings progress over the next few weeks it is my sincere hope that we can only amplify the wonderful relationship we already share." Ukare looked to the delegation groups directly.

Clearly the expressions of all of them that they returned to Ukare was of reciprocated admiration and respect. Ukare was a great man and was genuinely respected in kind the way he respected others.

And though protocol frowned on him acknowledging the Jedi, Ukare threw a quick grin and a nod at Lyssa and Nemic. Lyssa caught the expression and nodded back with a smile in reply.

"We gather here tonight in a celebration." Ukare added. "We have known for some time that our strength united is what has allowed decades of peace and prosperity for all of us alike. Where…."

A flash of light glared from the center of the room in the middle of the open dance floor. Everyone in the room shielded themselves from the flash of light. Many, including Lyssa, had thought in the blink of an eye that a bomb had gone off. The flash subsided but remained bright. The space around the bright anomaly warped, as though reality itself was bent, wavering like ripples in a pool.

When the brilliant distortion faded, a tall thin female in iridescent silver armor remained. The plating was more like a body glove, tight to her lithe form. Beneath she seemed visibly muscular with the same accenting lines of the silver armor. Her pale bronze face was framed by a shell-like silver helmet, with two curved horns pointing back from over her ears out beyond the crown of her head. She held a long silver staff that she set down with a clank as she stood. There was an evil look to her; an intentional design element to her body garment, headdress, and long hunter green cape that was meant to frighten and intimidate.

"What's the meaning of this?" Ukare demanded loudly.

The royal guards in the balconies moved suddenly, all taking aim on her with their blaster rifles from above.

The lady in silver armor raised her right hand. Invisibly she froze the guards with the force.

"No need to take extreme measures." The silver armored sorceress stated coldly. Her steely blue eyes looked around the chamber at all around her. The collective masses were stunned, many shocked and in fear at the sight of her. "I am Zera Rhoma. I have come with dire news and a warning." Zera looked about the room, her eyes eventually settling on Lyssa Anota and her padawan. "Forces from beyond are marshalling now, at this very moment, intent on the destruction of this kingdom and its allies, the New Republic. This is a war you neither expect nor fathom in scope."

Lyssa stared hard at Zera. Zera was Sith. The dark side radiated from her like an inferno.

"What do you want with us?" Lyssa demanded. "What do you expect to accomplish coming here, so boldly I might add? Why not kill us with these 'forces'?"

"Oh, this is not my doing, Jedi." Zera sneered at Lyssa. "I am merely the messenger. The harbinger of dark tomorrows. I am…"

"Get out!" Ukare shouted, his voice booming like a deity over the speakers. "You are not welcome here with your…"

"DO NOT PRESUME TO RAISE YOUR VOICE TO ME!" Zera's voice reverberated louder than Ukare's, without speakers. It raged in the thoughts of those listening as well as the ears. "If I wanted to I could kill every being in this hall!"

Lyssa's hand removed the handle of her lightsaber from within her gown. She didn't want to fight with so many people close by, but she might have had no choice.

"Look at you!" Zera raged in contempt, walking past the glamorous elite in an almost taunting stride. "All your wealth. Your power. None of it can protect you. You think your status can insulate you from the terrors this universe has to offer?" Zera starred for a moment at a terrified humanoid female in a low-cut dress. "The end is near and the life of everyone in this chamber will be affected!" Zera added loudly. She again looked at Lyssa. "Not even the Jedi can stop what is to come."

Lyssa's hand grasped tighter on her lightsaber handle. She used all her resolve not to attack.

Zera, noting Lyssa's inner conflict, laughed with satisfied defiance. Her laugh grew into a cackle, mocking the Jedi as she activated some unknown device by pressing a button on module of her armor.

Again, a flash of light. A twisting of reality. The bright light surged to a blinding flash.

Zera was gone.

The crimson armored elite guard above were able to move again. They rushed to the edge of the railing, aiming their blaster rifles down to search for the sorceress among the crowd. The evil silver armored woman was nowhere to be found.

"Master?" Nemic managed to ask part of a question.

"Search the palace!" King Ukare's voice boomed. "Put us on alert! Establish a perimeter and find that woman and bring her to me!"

The elite guard moved into action. People mumbled in confusion and shock around the room.

"Please, let's settle down…." Ukare's voice became calming again.

Lyssa stared at King Ukare, her mind racing. She reached out with the force but found no trace of Zera. One thing was clear though.

"Master! What is it?" Nemic pressed.

Lyssa's eyes remained fixed on Ukare as her padawan, by her side, demanded to know what bothered her so deeply.

"He knows her." Lyssa said in a low tone indirectly back at Nemic. "King Ukare knows her."

Zashad's arrowhead shaped transport emerged from hyperspace. A ringed gas giant loomed ahead, Tethys, with the background of space an amber and red haze of nebular gas. The popular theory was that another gas giant had exploded millions of years prior, casting Tethys' orbit in the glowing realm of its remains. While not gravitationally impairing nor dangerously radioactive, the haze did offer cover for the artificial structure that loomed ahead in orbit of Tethys.

The dark outline of a Vorn battleship grew ahead of Zashad's vessel. Dagger shaped, blue black plating covered the massive hull, with a cluster of drum-shaped main drives at the rear of the vessel. A bridge tower stood high above the main fuselage three quarters to the rear of the vessel on the dorsal line. The battleship was about the scale of _The Invisible Hand_, General Greivous' command ship during the Clone Wars – of which the Vorn battleship bore some resemblance.

The transport vessel, purposely of Corellian and not Vorn design, rocketed towards the open hangar bay near the underside of the ship. The force field opening wasn't wide; it could probably let a pair of medium freighters into its hangar at a time. The transport entered the hangar. A dozen black starfighters resembling birds of prey were set at the rear of the hangar. While the hangar bay and the ship itself was large, the only visible signs of life were a few droids that walked about the hangar. The ship seemed severely undermanned – and as he exited the transport Zashad seemed to be the only Vorn in the hangar.

The demonic warrior walked down the ramp of his ship cradling his right arm, the end of which was sealed in a cylindrical cover. Beneath his hand was regenerating. The cylinder served to amplify his species natural regenerative powers to make the process faster. Still, the wound left the Vorn somewhat sickly looking and fatigued.

Zashad walked across the bay into a turbolift. Not long after he emerged on an upper deck, which was much darker. The hangar, by necessity, was bright. The Vorn preferred the dark. The corridors of the vessel, while made from the same dark steel, had a dungeon like feel with low amber lighting set along the walls.

The armored Vorn entered a circular chamber, a hologram alcove. He knelt and lowered his head in respect as the hooded form of Darth Edos appeared above him as a projection.

"Master Edos." Zashad greeted the visage of his superior humbly.

"Zashad. Report." The hooded demon commanded in a low baritone voice.

"I encountered a Jedi on Coruscant. I thought he was one of the two I was following from the hidden order." Zashad explained, a hint of fear in his tone.

"He took your hand." Edos observed.

"Yes master. I was unsure what to do when I realized he was the wrong person. I thought to kill him but his skill…"

"This is unfortunate but not catastrophic." Edos observed. "The time is nearly at hand anyway. With all the activity of late it's surprising the Jedi haven't learned more."

"The Jedi can't know of our plot." Zashad countered confidently. "We've been certain to cover our trail."

"Ours, yes, but we cannot account for the missteps of others." Edos replied. "I've also gotten word that Zera has appeared on Agara Prime. Already there are two Jedi there and I suspect more are on the way."

"We must silence the Agaran monarchy then."

"Yes." Edos hissed. "I've sent word to our assets there. The timetable is being moved forward."

"I should take the _Spectre_ to the Agara System." Zashad stated.

"No." Edos cut him short. "We are nowhere near prepared to marshal our own forces. We will use what is existing – the forces of those we've already enticed."

"But the Jedi? I at least should…."

"You are in no shape to fight, Zashad." Edos noted. "But you are correct. Agara has been bolstering their forces as it is. Perhaps they know more than they let on. With the Jedi there it makes matters all the more difficult."

Edos paused, his hologram looking down at his subordinate.

"I will enable assets capable of handling the Jedi. Rest assured."

Edos' hologram flickered out, leaving the dim light of the hologram chamber with only Zashad.

It was one of many listening posts, set many miles from the city kingdom of Agramyek. Set within the forest beyond the granite mountains surrounding the city, it contained several large antennae, subspace radio dishes, sensors, and computer banks within a quiet compound. Agaran officers in grey uniforms worked their everyday tasks, manning the security gate, analyzing data in the modular offices, or repairing equipment. Agaran soldiers in grey plate armor patrolled the perimeter or guarded key points of the installation.

The attack came swiftly and unexpectedly from the surrounding treeline. Ground sensors had been compromised at the west perimeter of the outpost. A concentrated laser beam cut out from the forest in a searing white-hot burst. The laser cut an arc across the sensor farm, slicing a deep space transmitter and three other units in a line of melting slag.

The grey armored Agaran troopers were quick to react, raising their blaster rifles to aim on the treeline where the laser blast had been fired. As they rushed forward a cluster of mortars arced above them, detonating throughout the compound mercilessly.

A mix of brushed silver battledroids and olive drab armored humanoids emerged from the treeline. The battledroids were the same type that had ravaged Nevar Khyn on Clenestine during the _Triple Nova _incident. They moved with the same human fluidity as the green armored organic beings mixed in among their numbers. The line held up their blaster rifles, sending a wide swath of red blaster bolts firing angrily at the remaining Agaran forces.

The main spaceport adjacent to Agramyek was alive with activity. From the nearby mountains a chain of olive drab armored humans and battledroids walked cautiously towards the spaceport. They branched off in the woods, splitting up into groups that would advance on the fuel depot, the traffic control center, the spacecraft tarmac itself, and the civilian terminals.

A pair of Agaran troops on speeder bikes were surprised by the forces emerging from the woods. A group of blaster rounds killed both Agaran soldiers off quickly, sending their bikes flying off to crash in fire and twisted metal into the trees.

Many speeder roads branched out from the metropolis kingdom of Agramyek. They ran through lush forests, over clear streams, and past the breathtaking grey granite mountains.

Battledroids and olive drab armored humanoid forces quietly took up positions all along those roads. The invading units hid along the travel routes, hiding cautiously among overgrowth, behind drainage banks, and even within hovering cargo trucks.

The vortex of hyperspace swirled ahead of _The Ward_. Ayvan Ezen sat intently at the pilot seat keeping his red eyes fixed on the instrumentation before him. Obi-wan assisted him from the copilot seat. Nash Corino sat in the navigator station behind Obi-wan, himself monitoring the hyperspace reaction control indicators.

"You mind telling us why you've been running the hyperdrive so hard?" Nash asked aloud, indirectly to Ayvan.

"It may be nothing… I'm hoping." Ayvan explained. "Temin Andos, the person I met with on Coruscant just before being attacked, showed me some footage of what he thought were two Jedi from the Lost Order on Agara Prime."

"Lost Order?" Nash asked.

"It's a rumored fourth order of the Jedi, supposedly still remaining in hiding since Order Sixty Six." Obi-wan explained.

"I didn't place much stock in the claim but the fact that they were spotted on Agara Prime troubles me." Ayvan continued.

"Why's that?" Obi-wan asked.

"Because the _Triple Nova's _logs posted many trips to Agara Prime. And considering their smuggled cargo shipments of weapons and battledroids…."

"You don't think…" Nash was about to ask.

"I also sensed a great disturbance in the force." Ayvan added grimly. "Lyssa Anotta and her padawan Nemic Korin are on Agara Prime now. I sense… something terrible is about to happen there."

Obi-wan turned his eyes towards Ayvan. He was troubled by the fact that he didn't sense any such disturbance. Still, Ayvan had far more experience being a Jedi Master. Perhaps there were things Ayvan knew how to sense that Obi-wan could not.

"We need to get there as quickly as possible." Ayvan noted grimly, turning to look at Nash over his shoulder. "Any luck getting Agara Prime on subspace?"

Nash offered a blank expression in return. "Nothing yet."

Subspace transmissions weren't always reliable for a ship travelling through hyperspace, especially given the interference between them and the Agaran System.

Ayvan's red eyes again turned towards the swirling blue-white energy pattern of hyperspace ahead.

The royal living quarters took up the entire top eight floors of the main central spire of Agramyek. The radius itself of the main spire was about a hundred meters, allowing for a large shared living space, a two-story library, cavernous suites, a large hemispherical swimming pool, a hanging garden – all with commanding views over the surrounding kingdom. A roof deck at the top, which also functioned as an observatory of sorts, was capped with a conical dome-like skylight at the very top of the spire. The domed skylight, webbed in painted steel supports, offered a view of the late afternoon sky that cast the interior in a light amber glow.

King Ukare stood at an altar shaped terminal on a polished white stone deck bordered at the back by the skylight canopy and a semicircular planter of yellow and white flowered Agaran plants. The area seemed somewhat ceremonial, as though he would receive high level dignitaries to that area of his personal residence or perhaps perform a ceremony like an award presentation or a wedding.

These were not such happy times.

Crimson armored Agaran elite soldiers stood watch at the edge of the platform. Prince Dakar, still in his black armor-like body suit and cape, stood near the guards. The Jedi Lyssa and Nemic were at the far end of the platform opposite the king.

Ukare seemed upset and remained silent after they had withdrawn to the royal residence. The Jedi had followed him, politely remaining silent after the shocking disruption of Zera Rhoma at the banquet. No doubt Ukare wanted the protection of the Jedi, Lyssa thought, as she watched the king work at the terminal in a sort of angry silence.

"Strange. Some of these reports seem out of place." Ukare grumbled aloud.

"Security assures us we're safe, father." Prince Dakar looked again to the small screen on his wrist com.

"No, something is amiss." Ukare again muttered.

"With all due respect your highness," Lyssa stepped forward, "who is this Zera Rhoma?"

"I don't know." Ukare huffed in reply. "She obviously has some kind of mystical powers. Perhaps…"

"Your majesty, don't obscure the truth. You know this woman!" Lyssa countered sternly.

"Your tone is disrespectful to the king." Dakar glared at Lyssa.

Lyssa stared at Dakar silently for a few moments. He was scared as well. "You know her too!"

"She's no one." Ukare bit back. "I have all stations of the palace on lockdown. Whoever she is we'll find her."

Lyssa looked again at Ukare and Dakar. The crimson guard stood behind them, unflinching.

"Something is not right here." Lyssa pushed. "There's something you're not telling me! This Sith, or Dark Jedi, or whatever… sorceress, has you both terrified. I can feel the fear radiating from you."

"I am not afraid." Dakar assured her.

"No, you're not afraid of her." Lyssa clarified. "You're fearful of something else."

"It's not your place to interrogate the king, Jedi!" Dakar grew angrier at Lyssa.

"I am a Jedi Knight and a Sith just appeared in your banquet hall, Prince Dakar!" Lyssa pointed at the prince. "And there's something you're not telling me about this! It's exactly my place to get to the bottom of this!"

After an uncomfortable moment Ukare finally broke in a silent tone. "I didn't want it to come to this." Ukare's tone was rather remorseful as he leaned on the altar interface.

Lyssa turned towards Ukare in shocked silence.

"When Farrah died…." Ukare began.

Nemic, his robed arms folded at his chest, sensed it first. He looked up to the sky above to see five large objects falling towards the dome top of the skylight. His right hand pulled his lightsaber handle from his belt quickly.

"Master!" Was all that Nemic could say as he ignited his green lightsaber blade an instant before the massive forms shattered through the skylight above.

The king, Prince Dakar, and many of the crimson guards reeled from the sudden explosion of falling glass. Lyssa and Nemic shielded them all with the force from the falling debris as five heavy objects slammed into the observation deck.

Through the haze stood five large silver armored forms. They were over seven feet tall, all like heavily armored Stormtroopers in powered space armor. A domed head with a t-shaped visor and venting looked menacingly at them all. They raised their right arms at those in the room, aiming large blaster cannons.

Lyssa leaped through the air at the nearest one, igniting her violet lightsaber blade in her force-assisted jump. Her blade swung down towards the head of the massive armored machine when its left arm flew up. Energy coils in the left forearm cracked against Lyssa's blade, creating a shockwave that sent her flying backwards.

The royal guards opened fire, drawing the attention of the silver battle troopers. Dakar pulled his father away as the shrieking blasters on the right forearms of the troopers blasted into the royal guard ranks.

Nemic Korin batted a blast from one of the machines with his lightsaber back into its chest, staggering it back slightly. Nemic grabbed part of a damaged steel beam with the force and hurled it at the same giant attacker. A loud metallic _wham _accompanied the hit. The beast fired several rounds back at Nemic, who darted away to jump for the cover of a planter that was blasted to bits behind him.

As the royal guards were blasted away, one of the metal powered armor troops took careful aim at King Ukare. Dakar placed himself between the armored trooper and his father. The prince produced a lightsaber handle and ignited its red blade. Dakar threw his hand out at the aiming trooper, sending it hurling across the chamber to crash out of the side glass wall of the enclosure.

Lyssa leaped onto the back of one of the troopers. Grappling for a handhold on its neck as it tried to wrestle her off, she again activated her violet saber, lancing it through the back of the troopers heavily armored head.

The metal shock trooper stopped moving all at once from Lyssa's killing blow. It toppled forward, dead, with Lyssa jumping off its back.

Lyssa was frozen by the sight of Prince Dakar holding a red lightsaber blade. She could feel the force flowing through him. She was stunned not only by the sight of him but by the fact that she had been so blind.

A shock troop took aim on Lyssa behind her. Before it could fire, a green arc of light cut off its right forearm. Nemic blocked a swing from the left arm, his green saber crackling off its vibrocoils, shoving the arm back. The padawan ducked a backhand from the same left arm, cutting up through the body of the trooper. A trail of glowing slag accompanied the slash, stopping the beast. Whatever was piloting the massive armored suit inside was dead as it crashed lifelessly to the ground behind Nemic.

Nemic then leapt across the chamber to another trooper, dodging heavy blaster armor from its right arm. Nemic moved with blinding speed and seemed impossible to hit. Reaching the trooper, he cut off its right leg then followed with a flat reverse slash through its chest.

Another trooper dead.

The last machine was closest to King Ukare and Prince Dakar. Rather than execute any fancy move, Dakar simply raised his left hand out at the large silver armored trooper. Force lightning shot from his outstretched hand, hitting the last trooper in a sustained arc. The blue-white lightning crackled viciously over and through the silver trooper, killing its operator in an agonizing fury. With smoke rising from the joints of the machine, Dakar ended the lightning attack, allowing the last trooper to fall over – dead.

The room was again quiet. Smoke and smoldering blaster holes remained.

Lyssa, her violet saber still active in her right hand, stared at Prince Dakar. Dakar, suddenly seeming uncomfortable for a moment, deactivated his red blade and put the saber handle back on his belt.

Lyssa stared at him for a good while. All she could manage to say was "how?"

Nemic deactivated his green blade a moment before Lyssa shut down her lightsaber. Both Jedi stood silently, awaiting explanation.

"It was my doing." Ukare finally admitted. "No one knew Ian had these abilities." The king explained, using Dakar's first name. "It wasn't until my wife, Farrah, died that we realized what he was. Ian was fourteen when Farrah died in an assassination attempt on my life. Ian felt her die. That was when he first realized he could feel the force."

"Why didn't you come to us?" Lyssa noted in a pained tone. "We would have helped!"

"I already knew from our dealings the ways of the Jedi. We knew Ian was far too old to become one of you. And he was too wounded by the death of his mother." Ukare explained.

"So you turned to a Sith to train him?!" Lyssa couldn't contain her outrage. "Do you understand what you've done?"

"Don't use such a tone when speaking to my father!" Dakar growled at Lyssa.

"Let's ignore the fact for a moment that you knew of the Sith's existence without informing us." Lyssa marched towards Dakar defiantly. "We've known each other for so long, yet you hide THIS! The forces you are dealing with are dangerous! Not only to yourself but to all around you, even the galaxy beyond!"

"Zera was a means to an end." Ukare explained. "We both knew the extent of our agreement."

"Do you think the Sith care about honoring agreements?" Lyssa glared at Ukare.

"What was I to do?" Ukare shouted back at her. "He's my son! You wouldn't have trained him! You know this! What would the noble Jedi have done? Cast him away? Try to block his mind from his powers? Use your magic to make him forget what he can do?"

"You didn't know that." Lyssa pleaded.

"That was a risk I was unwilling to take!" Ukare yelled back.

"We would have helped him!" Lyssa pleaded impassionedly. "We wouldn't have cast him to the wind! Certainly, anything is better than turning your child over to the dark side!"

"Zera was my instructor." Dakar defended himself. "That's it! When she was finished we terminated our relationship."

"In the thousands of years we've known about the force not once has any Sith simply given away their secrets." Lyssa countered. "The only means of purchasing such knowledge is with your soul."

"As crazy as this all is we do still have pressing matters." Nemic pointed to the dead silver battle mechs. "This was meant as a decapitating strike. They were trying to kill the King. And if we hadn't been here they might have."

"Your apprentice is right." Ukare looked around, spotting the elite guard now in charge of his security detail. "What's the security status, Major?"

"Three of my men are dead. Five injured." The crimson armored guard answered. "No other alerts from the kingdom."

"That's impossible!" Dakar raised his wrist computer again. "No operation like this is carried out on a whim." He input a series of commands into his com system. "I'm still getting the same readings. Something is out of place. Too routine. As though I'm getting old data."

Ukare looked to the podium workstation he had been standing at earlier. It had been destroyed in the attack and now sat as a twisted pile of smoldering metal.

"Bring me a portable interface." Ukare instructed the major. "And get verified reports from all field stations. The Jedi is right. Something more is going on and I want to know what."

"Yes sir." The crimson armored major hurried off to obey his orders.

"This is Zera's work! She threatened you in your own hall." Lyssa growled.

"Zera appeared to warn us." Dakar responded. "She's not happy we cast her out but this is not her doing."

"How do you know?" Lyssa demanded.

"She lacks the means." Ukare answered.

Lyssa again threw the king a hard stare. She tried to restrain her emotions but couldn't hold back her anger. The royal family had been longtime friends. Lyssa knew Queen Farrah. She knew Ian since he was a boy. For them not to share such information was not only dangerous, it was insulting to think they couldn't trust her. And for King Ukare to be so familiar with Zera? So comfortable? It was shattering.

"Again, how do you know?" Lyssa pushed. "The Sith are practiced at deception. You see what they want you to see."

"Point taken." Ukare seemed to be growing weary of Lyssa's outrage. "I should say I do not believe this is her doing."

"If Zera wanted to kill us she would have come and done it herself." Dakar clarified. "She wouldn't need heavily armored Stormtroopers."

Lyssa now threw a cold look at Dakar. The fact that he was so calm in describing all this was unnerving.

"I am not here to harm anyone, Lyssa." Dakar noted in the same calming voice. "I am trained in their ways but I am not one of them. My allegiance has been and always will be to my family."

"This is all so strange." Lyssa said, calmer. "Forgive me for the analogy but this is like giving a child a charged blaster."

"Lyssa." Dakar called out to her.

She turned to look at him squarely.

"I am no child." Dakar stated with ice cold certainty.

Lyssa walked towards Dakar, stopping a meter away from his face.

"You're a weapon, Ian!" Lyssa growled in accusation. "Just like all the new troopers, tanks, and fighters you have been stockpiling. A weapon! This is what you and your father wanted!" She glared at Ukare in turn. "You wanted one of us, someone with our abilities, as a controllable asset. And you made a deal with the darkness to get it."

Ukare and Dakra said nothing in response.

"I am very disappointed." Lyssa finally turned away. She walked off, knowing that she wanted only distance for a moment.

Ukare and Dakar watched the Jedi walk away in silence for a moment, then returned their attention to the security detail.

The conduit of hyperspace resolved to starlines, which abruptly streaked down to the star points of eternal space. At the center a half-shadowed planet with two moons grew just as suddenly ahead.

And directly next to the planet were two giant almond shaped destroyers. The capital sized ships were ominous in appearance and visibly designed for conflict.

"Damn!" Ayvan cursed as he spotted the destroyers on his sensors. His hand flew up to flip a switch high on the console in front of him.

"What the heck are those?!" Nash shouted.

"Destroyers of some kind." Obi-wan noted.

"I can see that but who's are they?" Nash countered. "Who has the means to build something like that?!"

"Did they spot us?" Obi-wan asked.

"No. Not yet." Ayvan answered.

Nash looked over the readout at the flight engineer station. "You have a cloaking device on this thing?"

"It only lasts a short amount of time." Ayvan observed, his eyes on his heads-up display. "They've launched fighters. Lots of them. None of them coming for us though. They're headed towards the planet."

"Sooo, what's the plan?" Nash asked somewhat hesitantly.

"Lyssa and Nemic Korin are down there. Looks like there's some kind of interference planet-wide to their communications." Ayvan noted.

"It doesn't even look like their defenses are prepared." Obi-wan noted in shock.

"They're sitting porgs!" Nash looked at his instrumentation and agreed. "We have to warn them."

"I'm setting up a packet transmission." Ayvan turned in his chair and began tapping away at a brushed silver keyboard. "We can't send a standard transmission. The minute we broadcast those invaders will see right through our cloak and spot us."

Nash looked over Ayvan's shoulder to see him writing out the message in Aurebesh.

"You're sending that out to…" Nash began.

"Yes, they usually have ships patrolling the Malistare system." Ayvan explained.

"Them showing up might complicate matters." Nash warned.

"They're friendly forces and have the means to help." Ayvan replied.

"Help… for a price." Nash muttered.

"I'll also include a packet to Lyssa. Hopefully if she's with the Agaran hierarchy she can warn them in time."

Ayvan again looked at the massive battleships in far orbit of Agara Prime. They appeared like streamlined versions of old Imperial Star Destroyers, or more accurately like more menacing versions of the organic looking Mon Calamari battlecruisers. The starfighters launching from their bays looked like Actis class Jedi starfighters, only with larger engines and black and grey in color like their mothership.

And there were easily three hundred fighters pouring out of both destroyers. How any group could have the means to manufacture such things and man them with an army without the Republic or the Jedi knowing was a very large mystery.

Where did they come from? Who was manning the vessels?

"Everyone get combat ready." Ayvan ordered. "Nash, get on the main cannon. I'm about to transmit the packet. When I do those fighters will likely jump us."

Ayvan turned the nose of the _Ward _towards Agara Prime and pressed the transmit button on the com.

Nemic Korin pulled at the domed helmet of one of dead shock troopers that had attacked them. It took some work but the heavy helmet pulled free with the slight clank of releasing collar locks. The young Zabrak padawan finally was able to see the true face of their attackers. It was a human face, a young male with dark hair. The humanoid's dead eyes were shut and blood streaked down part of his face. Nemic took a small cylinder from his belt pouch and pressed it to the side of the dead trooper's neck. With a slight snap the device secured a tissue sample from the dead shock trooper pilot.

"Sir." A speaker voice came from over Nemic's shoulder.

The padawan looked down over his shoulder to see a crimson armored guard standing with a group of five Agaran's in tan and white uniforms.

"Sir, we can take it from here." The crimson armored soldier said to Nemic. "The King wants us to remove these things from the observatory."

"Yes of course." Nemic jumped down from atop the dead shock troop.

The removal team went to work under the watchful eye of the crimson guards. A hover platform with a small crane attached to it was produced to haul away the large shock trooper.

Lyssa Anota stood alone in a far section of the garden. She needed time to regain her center – her sense of calm. The shock of finding out Prince Dakar could use the force, that he could build and wield a red lightsaber, that he was taught by the Sith to use his powers… it was all too much. Ukare and Dakar were old friends and what they had done felt like a deep betrayal. Why hadn't they come to her? To the Jedi? The Sith were their sworn enemy. Lyssa herself vowed never to let those like Sidious or Vader rise again. They had killed so many. They had destroyed the original world of Alderaan. They had destroyed the great temple at Jedha. Lyssa would put an end to those like Zera Rhoma if she were standing before her. But Ian Dakar had been trained by her. We was, in effect, one of them. A young man she had known since childhood. A Sith?

Nemic walked up to his master's side. She acknowledged his presence with a slight smile.

"I got tissue samples from two of the pilots." Nemic noted to her in a low tone. "I'm not sure yet but I think they might be clones."

"Clones?" Lyssa's eyes turned up to his with some surprise.

"Yeah. Not single source I don't think but likely manufactured DNA."

The coms on Lyssa's and Nemic's coms beeped in unison. They both looked at each other for a second before Lyssa pulled her comlink from her belt and answered. Another beep notified her that the transmission was text. She looked at the small readout on her com.

"Come on!" Lyssa ran off, leading Nemic behind her.

King Ukare was at the far end of the observatory looking out one of the glass walls over his kingdom. Prince Dakar was standing at his side, still the looming dark presence standing guard over his father. Lyssa and Nemic ran to stand before the king. It was still very awkward for the Jedi, especially Lyssa, to be so close to Dakar. But the danger at hand took precedence.

"Your highness." Lyssa approached Ukare in an urgent tone.

"Master Jedi." Ukare looked towards her.

"Your highness, this attack is larger in scope than we thought." Lyssa noted. "I've just gotten word from two Jedi that just arrived above the planet. There's a full-scale invasion of Agara Prime under way right now. With two star destroyer sized vessels launching fighters towards the planet."

"Launch all fighters!" Ukare noted aloud to the nearby elite guard. "Have all defenses set to Level 1 and recall ALL reserves!"

"Yes sir." The elite guard replied, relaying the command into his coms.

"More Jedi here." Dakar noted somewhat grimly.

Lyssa looked at him sideways with a somewhat dour expression.

"We certainly could use their help." Dakar clarified.

"They'll need landing instructions." Nemic noted.

"Have them land at pad B fifteen." Ukrare instructed. "We'll fortify here. I will assume overall operational command."

"Yes sir." The reply came from the elite guard as the hurried to carry out his orders.

Ukare looked to Lyssa again. It was an odd mix and odd circumstances – but it seemed they were being attacked by a common enemy.

Nash liked the new gun pod on the _Ward._ Its domed transparisteel top offered a grand view to the universe beyond. It offered 360 degree full rotation with a hemispherical view above the ship. Its twin chrome plated cannons, one at each side of Nash's head, were quick and responsive to his input on the turret's control grips. Turning the gun turret forward he could see Agara Prime and two of its moons looming ahead. Rotating to about the 235 degree position he could see the two alien battleships floating in space beyond the planet in orbit. A number of glimmering points of light trailing at a downward angle away looked to be rather organic in nature, like distant sea life swimming in a few streams towards some faraway shore. But Nash knew what they were – starfighters!

The instant Ayvan began his broadcast Nash noticed a slight flutter to the stream of glimmering lights headed towards the planet. A number of the starfighters were breaking away. They were surely headed towards the _Ward. _

"I think they found us out!" Nash shouted into his com.

Before he barely had the words out the _Ward _was already rolling, turning into an inverted dive towards the planet. Nash barely had time to let the disorientation set in. His eyes remained fixed to the rear of the vessel. He flipped on the heads-up targeting. Orange targeting and info markers appeared against the starfield view of space. Beyond, the dark alien fighters were growing, and there didn't seem to be only a few sent to shoot them down. One targeting frame appeared with a blip sound around the nearest fighter. Then another blip. Then blip, blip, blip, blipblipblipblipblipblip!

The _Ward _was already careening in a steep dive into the atmosphere as Nash opened fire. The one he fired at exploded before a swarm of green turbolaser blasts came shrieking at him. What followed was a blur of motion and reaction. Ayvan, the better pilot between him and Obi-wan, was obviously at the controls, using the force to evade enemy fire from the rear. While a couple of green bolts shrieked into the shields, many surprisingly flashed by. Nash's pod was a fury of motion, turning left then right then left, stopping, then left more, angling the cannons every which way as red energy bolts blasted from the twin chrome cannons. Enemy fighters exploded around him, becoming more visible in the brightening atmosphere with their quick descent.

"I'm not sure these things are manned." Nash said into his comlink, firing furiously at the enemy fighters. One swept past him, resembling a raptor or a bat. Its dark winged visage was frightening up close. "They're a bit predictable. The bad news though…" Nash stopped speaking as he became fully engrossed in shooting down their pursuers.

"The bad news?" Obi-wan asked over the com.

Nash continued his heavy fire on the dark fighters, his gun pod spinning and pitching frantically its turbolaser cannons hammered away. "The bad news is there's a LOT of them up here!"

Ayvan banked the _Ward _down towards thicker clouds ahead. Over twenty black enemy raptor fighters swooped down after them in close pursuit.

"Keep them off our back for a bit. I have a plan." Ayvan's voice called back over the com.

"Given the option is us being blasted out of the sky…." Nash grumbled back.

Green turbolasers continued to fly past around them as Ayvan continued his sickening maneuvers. The _Ward _corkscrewed right, then broke left into a series of yaws, hard turns, a pitch upward, then up and over. Every few kilometers Ayvan would level out for a few seconds for some reason, offering Nash a few moments of rapid fire in a tight conical targeting field. A few more dark fighters flashed over and exploded from Nash's turbolaser fire. A green blaster bolt, then another, blasted into the _Ward's _shields, the second sending the ship pitching violently right.

In a brief moment, Nash realized what Ayvan was doing. Expertly, while dodging enemy fire with the force, he was having the enemy fighters tighten up behind them. Rather than a broad formation of enemy fighters, the series of maneuvers Ayvan was executing was luring the enemy ships into closing ranks. Before Nash fully realized the strategy, a tube ahead of him, further back on the _Ward, _flashed over with a FOOM! Nash peered over the edge of his gun pod to see two rows of six mortar tubes set into the spine of the _Ward, _and one had just fired off.

Not a mortar tube, Nash realized – a rear-firing missile!

The missile raced to the center mass of the enemy fighter formation as Ayvan gunned the throttle, throwing Nash forward against his restraints with the surprise acceleration.

The whole sky behind Nash flashed over in a bright blast, followed in nanoseconds by a BOOM!

Then FOOM! FOOM! FOOM! Three more missile launches. The missiles trailed out in a broader fan, detonating in a hellacious fury that rocked the _Ward. _All the sky seemed an inferno briefly.

Nash looked back at what had been eighteen or so enemy fighters – now falling out of the sky behind them as burning hunks of debris. Nash was in awe. His targeting computer was without targets.

"Okay, that's an impressive upgrade!" Nash remarked into the radio.

"I got tired of being chased down into atmospheres." Ayvan remarked glibly.

The _Ward _broke through another group of clouds, leveling out over the forest surface of the planet and rocketing forward towards Agramyek ahead.

The Agaran military, finally on full alert, began fighting the invaders full-force within the city and out at the perimeter of the kingdom. Grey armored Agaran troopers rushed to take back the coms array station. Platoons of Agaran soldiers advanced from three sides of the burning compound, firing in wide swaths at the battledroids and olive drab armored enemy forces.

On the road leading to Agramyek, several speeders had been destroyed by the enemy forces set up in ambush to try and stop people from entering and exiting the kingdom. For a while there was little activity on the road. The olive drab troopers and silver battle droids waited on the banks. Suddenly they became alert. The droid sensors noted a fast, incoming threat. Agaran fighters swooped down from overhead, blasting through their lines with heavy red turbolaser fire. As the sides of the road were set ablaze with turbolaser fire a number of blaster bolts flew up the road, destroying two of the droids in staggering explosive hits. Three of the soldiers and another droid were destroyed by the distant fire just before three Agaran speeder bikes rocketed towards their enemy up the road. A heavy transport followed, racing up the road behind the bikes and turning to a stop, unloading two dozen more gray armored Agaran troopers.

At a small village on the outskirts of the kingdom, a batallion of droids and a walking tank mech were laying siege to gain entry to a separate adjoining part of the city. Fighting was fierce between Agaran troops and the mysterious and fierce enemy forces. Blaster bolts flashed from building to building. One structure was on fire with the citizens evacuating under cover from Agaran forces.

A proton torpedo slammed into the side of the tank walker, the detonation ripping it practically in half. The walker toppled over in flames as the _Ward _rocketed by overhead; the vehicle that had fired the torpedo.

The _Ward _was jumped by several black wing fighters as they raced towards the palace. Agaran fighters, E-wings, swooped in, picking off the dark fighters in quick succession to defend the _Ward._

Inside the _Ward_, Ayvan remained at the pilot command station. They had been given access to the Agaran military Ident signal and marked as a friendly, thus allowing the Jedi and his crew to track enemies without erroneously targeting allies.

"We should go back and help that village." Obi-wan noted to Ayvan from the copilot station.

"The Agaran soldiers have that covered." Ayvan replied. "We have to get to Lyssa and Nemic as quickly as possible."

"You sense it too?" Obi-wan asked him seriously.

"Yes." Ayvan's response was grim. "The dark side."

The _Ward_ soared on to the palace, approaching their designated landing pad.

"You know, it's probably not a safe thing to park the _Ward _out here while this battle is raging." Nash noted over the comlink from the gun turret. "She'll be a sitting target – defenseless."

"What are you suggesting?" Ayvan asked in response. They were just about to land and had slowed for approach.

"As much as I hate to miss out on a full-scale ground war, I should pilot the ship and keep it on high station." Nash suggested.

"We have no astromech." Ayvan warned. "The gun turret can be automated but it's nowhere near as effective as with a live gunner."

"I can handle it. Besides, with us linked to the Agaran Ident maybe I can get some higher altitude cover."

"Okay, get down here then." Ayvan responded, unlatching his seatbelt.

The _Ward_ was rotating in a low hover over the pad with its landing struts and rear ramp already extended. Obi-wan rushed down the ramp with Ayvan, hopping off the ramp's edge to the landing pad surface less than a meter below.

With the Jedi disembarked, the _Ward's _wings again lowered, the ramp and landing struts retracted, and the ship roared back into the sky.

Obi-wan and Ayvan looked at each other briefly and then scanned their surroundings. The wind whipped at their hair and clothes as they crossed the short bridge to the main palace. The sky was a frenzy of shrieking turbolaser fire and screaming thrusters. Two grey armored Agaran soldiers guarded the entry to the tower. Neither offered any resistance to the Jedi, they simply waived them inside.

Obi-wan and Ayvan entered the palace, leaving the raging war outside to the wind.

The inside of the lower level of the palace was alive with activity. Several soldiers and a few of the palace staff were set on rows of repulse stretchers; wounded from injuries of the battle. Two of the floating stretchers were led away to get medical aid for those lying on them. A squad of troops ran by, hurrying to reinforce another section of the palace grounds.

A blast outside of the palace, a massive detonation at some unknown distant point, shook the grounds slightly accompanied by a slight rumbling.

"Who are these attackers?" Obi-wan asked Ayvan as they hurried through the large palace halls.

"I don't know." Ayvan noted coldly. "Whoever they are they're well-funded. Well supplied."

"They have to be tied to Harrick." Obi-wan observed.

"And the _Triple Nova, _yes."

A beep resounded from Ayvan's com. He pulled the device from his belt and talked as they walked through the palace. "Yes?" Ayvan answered.

"Master Ezen." Lyssa's voice responded. "My coms readout says you landed."

"We're inside the palace on our way to the sovereign residence tower." Ayvan said.

"I've transmitted the route to your com in case you get lost." Lyssa noted. "Obviously quite a bit has been going on today."

"Is King Ukare safe?" Ayvan aksed.

"He's fine but there's another matter…." Lyssa's voice became frighteningly serious. "Prince Dakar. He knows the way of the force. He was taught… by a Sith."

Ayvan and Obi-wan glanced at each other as they walked on.

"Do you know where he is now?" Ayvan asked.

"Yeah, he's up here with us in the observatory." Some silence passed on the com. "It's complicated, Ayvan. Dakar seems… fine. He taps into the dark side to fight but he hasn't attacked me or Nemic. The Sith who instructed him, a female named Zera Rhoma, made an appearance at the banquet prior to this attack. I thought she was responsible for this attack but Ukare and Dakar claim she was trying to warn them. That Zera was driven away when they terminated their relationship with her."

"The king is naïve. It's never that simple with the Sith. Or anyone who wields the dark side." Ayvan noted. He and Obi-wan were almost to the main lifts to the royal residence. "We'll have to deal with them later. We're on our way up."

"See you soon." Lyssa replied.

Ayvan closed the comlink and placed it back on his belt as he and Obi-wan entered one of the lift cars.

A squadron of fourth generation X-wings, Agaran red and grey in color, swooped out of the sky to chase after a group of black enemy phantom fighters. The black raptor-like fighters broke in different directions. A few manage a few shots at the X-wings but were destroyed by turbolaser fire from the Agaran fighters. Agaran E-wings followed, picking off straggler fighters while a few E-wings broke off to provide ground support elsewhere.

The black raptor fighters proved agile enough to escape the pursuing X-wings, twisting and chasing over the city kingdom low over the rooftops and around the kingdom spires.

A unit of Agaran crimson troopers rushed into a plaza, clearing out a number of olive drab enemy troopers. Agaran troops advanced using the cover of the structures, firing their blaster rifles out from reinforced doorways, from behind concrete steps, and planter recesses. The mysterious enemy offered tough resistance but were eventually cut down in blaster fire.

With the area clear, an Agaran Major kneeled down to pull the helmet off one of the fallen olive drab troopers. The dead face beneath the helmet was humanoid, like all the others the Major had seen. But it was one of three or four types of faces all the time beneath the helmets. The Major, his own face obscured in an Agaran trooper helmet, looked around at the dead.

"Khoris to base. I'm pretty sure we're dealing with clones here." The Major spoke into his helmet com.

"Copy that, major." A voice called back over the scratchy com line. "We're getting a lot of similar reports. Regroup to area twenty-two B and rejoin Alpha Group to defend there."

"Copy base." The major replied, waving his troopers to advance with him down the plaza.

As he advanced, Major Khoris noticed an ominous sight in the distant sky. Three grey arrow-shaped vessels floated in the distance. They were large warships – and not Agaran. It was hard to determine scale at that distance but Khoris guessed they were close support frigates. And they weren't friendly.

A squadron of Agaran X-wings and E-wings screamed past overhead, racing directly towards the incoming enemy frigates.

Lyssa and Nemic stood in a makeshift war room standing over a holotable that displayed the palace and the surrounding city. Several red and blue dots clumped in groups were shown throughout the map; friendly and enemy troop locations. Holographic images of tiny fighter ships swarmed around the transparent model of Agramyek. A few of the dots winked out; fighters that were destroyed in the battle. Lyssa turned her green eyes up at King Ukare and Prince Dakar, who stood on the opposite side of the table. Both men were busy dispatching troops, organizing the battle from a safe distance.

"Where are our battlecruisers? The _Tolen_? The _Supremacy_?" Ukare grumbled.

"There's a large debris field in quadrant three." Dakar noted grimly. "Based on the size and energy dissipation I think they were destroyed early in the battle. I'm getting conflicting reports, though. A lot of their fighters are over Agramyek. We probably got forty percent of their fighters, mostly X-wings and E-wings."

"Any chance of recalling our other cruisers from Malistare?" Ukare asked, looking at their fighter inventory in the holomatrix.

"Transmissions are still jammed offworld." An Agaran colonel replied. "We're lucky that Jedi was able to warn us. Hopefully someone else heard his distress call."

"We need to get out there." Lyssa noted calmly to Nemic.

Her young padawan nodded in eager agreement.

"No need for that." Ukare assured her while keeping his attention on the holographic battle. "Our forces have this well in hand."

"With all due respect your highness, we have no idea who this is who's attacking you." Lyssa countered.

"We've got reports coming in from a recon team." A crimson armored trooper captain noted. "The fighter craft. The remains of several have been confirmed to be unmanned. Droid fighters."

"Like the old vulture droids the Nemoidian Trade Federation used." Lyssa noted. "And droid soldiers? Clone troopers? It's a borrowed military of sorts. Who's commanding them?" Lyssa pressed the question to Ukare.

"I have no idea." The king replied quickly.

"No one has made themselves an enemy of you to the point it would come to this?" Lyssa pushed.

"There have been rumblings, sure." Ukare answered. "Even to the reason you're here. Our military buildup made people nervous but I'm certain no one was riled to the point to carry out full-scale invasion!"

"Respectfully master, I believe this is something else." Nemic added calmly.

Lyssa turned towards Nemic but then turned her head further around at the sound of the sliding door to the command center opening.

Ayvan Ezen and Obi-wan Shai entered the dim chamber, passing several Agaran officers and troopers. The two Jedi walked directly towards the holotable and those gathered around it.

"Master Ezen." Lyssa greeted him first. "Good to see you out in these parts."

"Master Anota." Avyan bowed to Lyssa in kind. "This is my… associate, Obi-wan Shai."

"The one who killed the Sith on Clenestine?" Dakar looked directly at the nineteen year-old.

Obi-wan became visibly uncomfortable at the mention of him killing Syrik. It was a fame he didn't want but that seemed to be more prevalent in his travels.

"King Ukare. Prince Dakar." Ayvan bowed to the royals as well. "Thank you for your hospitality and in having us."

"This is not the best day for hospitality, Master Jedi." King Ukare smirked.

"Master Ezen has an interesting brand of humor, your highness." Lyssa highlighted the levity.

"I assure you, your highnesses, that we are here on a serious matter." Ayvan looked to Ukare and Dakar in kind, settling a hint of a cold look at the prince. "I was on Coruscant investigating the trail of the Sith we encountered on Clenestine. We had some information that there might have been some illicit activity here by the freighter we encountered Syrik upon, the _Triple Nova._ Cross-referencing that information with our knowledge of the _Triple Nova's _logs and the fact that they were illegally transporting battledroids we decided to come here as quickly as possible. It's perhaps fortune or the will of the force that brought us here in time for… all of this."

"You're saying this freighter brought these machines here?" Ukare replied.

"I think a number of vessels have been bringing battledroids and other weapons here and stockpiling them on your world for this invasion." Ayvan stated. "I have a theory that if we search this planet we'll find a number of large hidden staging areas. This invasion was well planned and the forces already planted here secretly served as the vanguard for the assault. My guess is our encounter with Syrik and the _Triple Nova_ accelerated the timetable."

"That doesn't tell us who is in charge of these forces." Lyssa stated.

"No, but I have a theory on that as well." Ayvan added. "While on Coruscant I encountered a large reptilian warrior, demonic in appearance, like a dragon in ornate armor. A force user on the level of our ancient masters yet the size of a Wookie."

"The Vorn." Prince Dakar noted sharply.

All eyes turned towards the dark armored prince.

"You know these beings?" Ayvan asked in genuine surprise.

"I've heard of them. Zera, my… master told me of them but neither of us believed they were real. Just rumors." Dakar explained.

"Yes, your Sith Master. I suppose we'll get to all that eventually." Ayvan raised his eyebrows briefly.

"I'm not going to hurt any of you!" Dakar defended himself to the group.

"We'll sort all that out later." Lyssa interjected, looking directly at the prince. "We've got bigger issues to deal with. Tell us what you know of these Vorn."

"Zera said they were an ancient race of warriors from a distant system, far beyond the outer rim and beyond the edge of the galaxy itself." Dakar noted. "They… my God!" he stopped short.

"What is it?" Ukare asked, seeing the panic on his son's face.

"The Vorn are rumored to hate all those capable of wielding the force." Dakar explained. "Sith, Jedi, what have you…. They want to be the sole users of the force. The dominant species. They want us all dead! I brought them here! They knew what I was!"

"I'd say that's an unlikely possibility, your highness." Ayvan responded. "What are the odds anyone knew of your abilities outside of your master? This Zera Rhoma wouldn't betray you to them, would she? Do you think she has any part in this?"

"No. No!" Dakar shook his head in firm denial. "I think Zera feared them. Or didn't fully take them seriously."

"Where is Zera Rhoma now?" Obi-wan aksed.

"I don't know." Dakar answered.

"Are you certain?" Lyssa pushed.

"Yes, damn it!" Dakar glared at her. "I am not the villain here! I am NOT Sith!"

"Yet you were taught by one." Ayvan noted in quick reply. "As I said, I believe we should deal with that later."

"At any rate, on a positive note there are five of us in this room with force abilities." Obi-wan smirked. "If they're coming for us I like our odds."

"This is a full-on assault with a sizeable enemy force. The days of the Jedi fighting wars are a thing of the past." Ayvan noted seriously.

"I'd say that might change very soon from what this tactical display says." Dakar pointed to the holotable displaying the battlefield.

"Dakar may be right." Lyssa added reluctantly.

"Guys…." Nash's voice came in over Ayvan's com, surprising everyone.

"Our ship." Obi-wan explained to the group. "Our pilot is still up there. We didn't think it was safe to land."

Ayvan raised his com to his mouth. "Yes Nash."

"You all have big problems coming in." Nash's voice noted. "Those assault freighters just launched siege missiles! Big ones!"

Almost simultaneously, a dozen blips appeared from outside the perimeter of the holographic battle table. The missiles were each marked in Aurebesh text – flashing urgent warning. And they were streaking towards the palace very fast!

"Prepare for impact!" Prince Dakar yelled out.

Outside, the palace's laser defense turrets took quick aim on the missiles. Sustained laser beams cut out from spires and gun positions around the kingdom, trying to cut down the large siege missiles in flight. A few were destroyed but those that remained rocketed on towards the tiered spires of the main castle. They detonated in massive concussive fireballs, pulsing into the shielding of the palace. Many of the shields failed with the blasts, cracking and crumbling a number of walls of the palace.

The lights flickered inside the war room of the royal residence. The blast felt as though the main spire itself would topple as everyone reached out for something to brace themselves against. The seismic wave rumbled through the structure like a sustained earthquake. The lights finally shut off, activating the red emergency lighting. Under foot, the floor slabs seemed to finally settle. Tension and balance were restored.

"We need to get down to the lower levels." King Ukare noted.

"I'm not arguing there!" Nemic said aloud.

"There's a command post in the sublevels." Dakar added. "Our turbolifts use independent repulse so they're safe." The prince ushered them out of the dark war room.

"Hurry!" Ukare urged them all as they ran out of the chamber.

Ayvan wasn't wrong when he had said the autofire system on the _Ward's _main cannons was less than effective. While he had been able to shoot down a pair of the black enemy fighters with the automatic fire control systems, Nash Corino had spent much of his time simply evading attack. Flying low over the city had proven an exercise in aerobatics and the _Ward's _larger size had made flying through neck-breaking maneuvers difficult.

Nash piloted the _Ward _in a high watch position over Agramyek, taking a long circle at high altitude to avoid enemy fighters. From that position he was also able to take on a coordination role in calling out targets for friendly Agaran fighters. The mysterious black raptor fighters were focused on their attack on the city and pretty much left Nash alone. Still, with the _Ward _angled steeply in its long turn, it allowed the main cannon to fire on enemy targets in a more artillery like fashion, mostly in a ground support role. Nash couldn't help but marvel at the range of the _Ward's _main cannon in focus fire mode. Clearly, Ayvan had upgraded the ship in anticipation of troubled times ahead.

The city below was ravaged, particularly the central palace sector. Nash descended lower to assess the damage the siege missiles had caused. Two separate areas of the palace had large holes blown in its structure with black smoke pouring out to reach high into the darkening sky. Nash couldn't help but feel upset that he wasn't on the ground with Obi-wan and Ayvan, his friends, to help out in the ground battle – which was surely hellacious. Still, a small part of him felt better for the relatively safe distance from the massive blasts that had occurred with the siege missile strike.

Nash turned the _Ward _again towards the three assault frigates hovering in the distance. The lights of the three attack ships seemed to grow ominously brighter in the dimming sky. Who the hell were they? Who was in command of this mysterious and considerably powerful military force? And why hadn't he or anyone heard of them?

Nash turned the ship higher into the sky to return to his over watch position. He directed a group of Agaran X-wings towards another approaching group of raptor fighters. The Agaran fighters were thinning out and with night falling the battle was about to take on a whole new dynamic.

"Gez!" Nash muttered under his breath, turning the _Ward _down towards the reinforcing enemy squadron. There weren't enough Agaran fighters to take them on. Nash would have to dogfight the _Ward. _He couldn't leave the Agaran pilots to their fate shorthanded.

Nash could only hope Ayvan's message got out. The enemy forces had the upper hand. And Nash couldn't leave without his friends.

Ayvan, King Ukare, and their group emerged from the turbolifts to find themselves on the outside of a fierce firefight. Agaran troops, about twenty of them, were scattered around the open hall, using whatever was thick and sizeable enough for cover as they fired their blaster rifles at a large contingent of enemy battle droids and clone troopers. A fury of red blaster rounds screamed seemingly in all directions.

"This way your highness!" a grey armored Agaran trooper ushered Ukare, Dakar, and the Jedi past while furiously adding his blaster rifle fire to that if his men around him.

The king and his group were led into a corridor leading away from the massive firefight, under the protection of his elite crimson guard.

"Who in blazes are these people attacking us?!" King Ukare shouted, drawing his own blaster pistol to protect himself.

"The passage to the lower level is this way." Dakar led the group to the right into another corridor.

A group of about eight battle droids and olive drab armored clone troopers appeared from an adjoining hall. They had, apparently, been trying to flank the Agaran defenders in the massive firefight out in the hall. The Jedi, and Dakar, ignited their lightsabers as blaster fire from the enemy unit screamed at them. The crimson armored Agaran troops guarding them snapped their blaster rifles up to their sights, firing back on the invaders. The droids and clones quickly fell to Agaran blaster rounds or those deflected back by Ayvan, Lyssa, and Dakar. One of the droids threw a spherical silver object at them. Obi-wan grabbed it midair with the force and hurled the sphere, a thermal detonator, out a nearby window. The blast rocked the area.

With the flanking enemy troops dispatched, lightsabers vanished back into their handles, except for Nemic's green blade. The padawan stood guard until the rest of the group passed him to escape into the nearby adjoining corridor. Once they were past, he deactivated his green blade and ran after the others to catch up.

"How did they get so deep into the palace grounds!" Ukare growled. "Why aren't we being notified of this in intel!"

"Whoever it is, they seem to have compromised our security network." An Agaran Major noted in response.

"Probably in advance of the attack." Dakar growled.

"We're not going to last very long if we keep up like this." Ukare noted bitterly.

"Hopefully the Republic or the Trade Federation can send help." Ayvan noted.

"The Trade Federation? We're not on the best terms with them." Dakar noted.

"They will send help if they are able though." Nemic added.

"Let's just hope…." Obi-wan began before his words were cut short by a massive blast to a wall at their left.

The group reeled again, raising their arms instinctually to shield themselves from flying debris and the blast. Smoke filled the passage. Blasters were drawn. Lightsabers were activated in the haze.

Two of the heavy armored troopers lumbered into the large corridor from the detonated opening. Their arm cannons were already raised. The vibrocoils on their left arms were activated, tingling with arcing tendrils of electricity. Around them a dozen or so olive drab armored clone troopers rushed into the opening. Blasters blazed rapid fire! The Agaran elite guard picked off a few clone troopers. Four elite guards fell in returned fire. Nemic shoved one of the eight foot tall heavy troopers sideways with the force, dropping the massive armored soldier onto two of his fellow clone troopers. Lyssa rushed at blinding speed towards the other, cutting off its right arm with its blaster cannon with her violet lightsaber blade. Obi-wan, Ayvan, and Dakar deflected blaster rounds away with their lightsabers and, in a few parrying movements, batted blaster rounds back at the olive green enemy troopers.

A spray of heavy blaster rounds from a shock trooper whizzed by Obi-wan, striking him partially in the chest. Ayvan responded by launching himself at the silver shock trooper that had fired the volley. He landed at the side of the trooper, ducked a backhand from its vibrocoil shielded left forearm, and cut into its right leg with his green saber. The wounded trooper punched Ayvan back. Lyssa tried to cut the beast from behind, but a kinetic blast projected by the shock trooper threw her into a wall. The trooper again managed to fire into the group, dropping two elite guards. It stopped firing as a blue lightsaber blade pierced its side. Obi-wan Shai, his wounds still smoldering through his burnt clothing at his left shoulder and with his face partially charred, held his lightsaber blade into the side of the beast, cutting upward slightly before withdrawing his glowing blue blade. With a spinning arc of his lightsaber, Obi-wan turned quickly, chopping his blade down through the shoulder of the shock trooper. The massive silver armored beast fell forward onto its chest and face, dead.

Prince Dakar threw his red blade into the remaining shock trooper. The glowing red blade pierced its shoulder, remaining there for a moment. The shock trooper, using its left hand, pulled the red lightsaber blade out of its body and threw the weapon aside. It fired with shoulder cannon back at Dakar. The prince leapt away as heavy plasma blasts detonated around him.

Ayvan cut off the heavy troopers shoulder mounted cannon, then spun his green lightsaber blade back in a fast reverse slash through the trooper's lower back. The trooper toppled but braced itself up on its remaining left arm. Ayvan cut down again through the heavy trooper, this time slicing through its domed helmet. The giant metal trooper collapsed finally in a loud crash, moving no longer.

The remaining olive drab clone troopers were finished off quickly after. Two seemed to flee at the end, leaving only the Jedi, Dakar, and Ukare remaining with two surviving Agaran elite troopers.

King Ukare seemed confused for a moment, his hands held in front of him oddly, the right still clutching onto his blaster pistol. Prince Dakar caught sight of his father and was gripped in terror as he realized there were three smoldering holes in his father's chest. Ukare toppled over and fell to the ground.

"NOOOO!" the prince rushed to his father's fallen body. Dakar slid down on his knees next to his father and hoisted him up at his shoulders. "GET A MEDIC!" Dakar screamed, rocking his father's body in a desperate embrace. "Don't die on me! Don't you die!"

Obi-wan looked on Prince Dakar and saw what was painfully familiar. King Ukare died in his son's arms. A fallen king in white cradled by a prince, his son, in black. Tears streamed down Prince Dakar's face as he sobbed in heartbreak. Yet through the tears Ian Dakar turned his blue eyes upward for a moment. The outline of a woman stood in the far haze of the demolished side of the corridor.

Zera Rhoma, his master, faded back into the haze of the opening.

Ian's eyes narrowed from sorrow into rage.

"No." Lyssa breathed, seeing what was about to happen. The corridor was near silent except for Dakar's cries.

Dakar's eyes flashed over momentarily, amber in red with rage, before settling back to blue.

"Ian! Please don't!" Lyssa pleaded with the prince.

Prince Dakar set his father's body down and stood up, his black cape following him as he moved. Dakar walked towards the blasted opening where he had seen Zera's hazed form. His red lightsaber blade ignited in his grasp as he marched. In a few more steps he vanished thought the opening.

"No." Lyssa shook her head sadly.

She knew what had happened. They could all sense the dark side burning within Prince Dakar as he walked away. Lyssa looked at Ayvan, Nemic, and Obi-wan in silence as Aragan soldiers rushed in to take care of Ukare's body.

"He's turned to the dark side." Obi-wan noted in a grim tone.

"It may have always been with him." Ayvan added calmly.

"Should we follow him, master?" Nemic asked Lyssa. "Try to stop him?"

Lyssa didn't respond immediately. She looked at the opening where Dakar had vanished, then back at Nemic.

"Stay with Master Ezen and Obi-wan." She instructed her padawan, holding back her own tears.

"Lyssa!" Ayvan was about to protest.

Lyssa Anota ran off after Dakar, intent to stop him.

Ayvan, Obi-wan, and Nemic were left to look at each other blankly.

"We should go after her." Nemic stated, still unsure what to do. His master had ordered him to stay behind.

"She's conflicted." Ayvan grumbled. "She's emotionally connected herself to this. Obi-wan and I should bring him in."

"Bring in Dakar?" Nemic asked, confused. "This is strange. Technically he hasn't done anything wrong."

"He's turned to the dark side of the force. That's dangerous enough." Ayvan replied sternly.

"The Jedi Order just recently expressed their worry about me doing the very same thing." Obi-wan noted back to his cousin.

Ayvan looked over his shoulder and gave Obi-wan a disapproving smirk.

"She's my master." Nemic argued. "I have to go help her."

Ayvan looked around at all the destroyed heavy shock troopers and the damaged palace halls around them. A few Agaran citizens and off-world dignitaries hurried by under the protection of Agaran troopers.

"We're needed here." Ayvan stated. "Find your master. We'll remain here and help with the defense of the city until help can arrive."

Nemic looked back at Ayvan and nodded. He ran off down one of the smoky corridors to go find Lyssa.

Ayvan and Obi-wan remained in the destroyed corridor junction, with Ayvan's expression visibly uncomfortable.

"Sorry to jab you like that in front of Lyssa's apprentice." Obi-wan offered, knowing what was on Ayvan's mind.

"I didn't miss the similarities between you and Dakar." Ayvan noted flatly. "But there is a distinct difference between you two."

"What's that?" Obi-wan asked his cousin.

"You haven't turned to the dark side."

Four olive drab enemy troopers rushed out into the enclosed plaza, blaster rifles at the ready. The dark form of Prince Dakar was immediately in all their gun sights. They fired their blasters in a fury. Dakar's red lightsaber blade deflected the bolts away, killing two of the green troopers with their own fire. Dakar grabbed one trooper with the force and threw him into a wall. He crushed the right forearm of the other with the force while rushing him, cutting off his head with his red saber. The trooper thrown into the wall was barely on his feet again before Dakar's lightsaber cut him through the torso.

Dakar's wrath was unrelenting. He marched through a haze of smoke into the next passage, killing three more green enemy troopers in short order with his saber.

More battledroids and troopers appeared. Dakar exploded the first battledroid simply with the force. Electricity shot from Dakar's extended right hand, frying two more droids and three of the enemy clone troopers. Dakar's red ligtsaber chopped through droid and clone alike in his blind rage.

Like a dark phantom, Dakar closed the distance to three more green troopers, cutting off an arm, chopping through a blaster rifle, deflecting away a blaster round before reaching out to the trooper that fired it to raise him off the ground with the force. Dakar snapped the floating trooper's neck with the invisible force and threw his dead body aside.

It went on and on, trooper after trooper. Threat after threat. A battledroid cut to pieces of slag. A head severed from an enemy trooper. A thrust of the lightsaber through the chest of another.

Dakar walked through an opening framed by fire into an open courtyard. It was one he knew well even despite the smoke and haze and destruction. Green planters. A small reflecting pond. And at the end a statue of his mother.

Queen Farrah, her white marble statue, looked down on him through the smoke. Dakar had just happened to walk into that plaza, where the sight of his mother stopped him in his tracks. His red and yellow eyes reverted to blue. His rage ebbed.

"You knew this was going to happen." A rough female voice called out.

Dakar turned around to see the sight of Zera Rhoma slowly walking towards him, her right arm braced with her staff.

"The Vorn won't have me. They won't have my kingdom!" Dakar growled back at her.

"I told you this was inevitable! The Vorn are unstoppable." Zera replied, her silver armor horned form paced around him. "I told you and your father that when I trained you that there would be a price. That you would have to pledge obedience to the Vorn. Did you and he so arrogantly believe you could escape that?"

"My father is dead!" Dakar shot back angrily.

"I tried to prevent that." Zera replied.

"I will kill the Vorn for what they've done!"

"All of them?" Zera asked with disbelief.

"Yes!" Dakar growled back.

"Your only chance now is to submit to the Vorn. Destroy the Jedi here. They would look favorably on that." Zera argued.

"You didn't believe they would come! That they were a myth!" Dakar shouted.

"And yet here they are." Zera replied sternly.

"We can resist the Vorn, Zera. You and me." Dakar pleaded, extending his black gloved hand to her. "Join me."

Zera seemed moved somewhat by the gesture. "It's futile. Now that the Vorn have shown themselves there will be no stopping them. You know this. You see it with the force as I do."

Another figure emerged from the haze at their side. He was a young Zabrak in tan and brown Jedi robes. Nemic Korin held his lightsaber handle in his right hand, deactivated. He eyed Zera cautiously then glanced at Dakar.

"This is your master." Nemic observed.

"Kill him now, Dakar!" Zera growled, her cold red eyes staring down Nemic.

"Why?" Nemic asked Dakar. "Lyssa would have helped you? Instead you made a deal with her? With the Sith?"

"Better us than the weak Jedi." Zera bit back. "What would you have done with Ian? Imprisoned him? Closed him off from knowledge as you've done to so many who don't meet up to your… Jedi standards!"

Nemic stared at Zera for a moment. "Us?"

Zera looked back at him blankly.

"You said 'us'. Are there more of you?" Nemic asked her.

"It seems the Vorn are her masters." Dakar added harshly.

"They are NOT my masters!" Zera shot back at him.

"It looks that way." Dakar argued.

"I merely know when to fight and when to hide." Zera replied. "We can join the Vorn. Resolve this from within."

"And beat them?" Dakar growled back. "Better to do that now."

"You have no hope to do this now." Zera argued.

"THEY KILLED MY FATHER! I will die on my feet rather than let them take my kingdom and enslave our people!"

"Why don't you both come with me and we'll settle this like civilized beings." Nemic added.

"Kill the boy, Dakar! He knows about you. He knows about us!" Zera glared at Nemic.

"I will not harm him. He's done nothing but help us. Lyssa too." Dakar countered.

"The Jedi want us all dead! They see us as a severe threat." Zera growled.

"A threat, yes, but there's no need to jump to violence." Nemic replied back calmly.

"There is every need to jump to violence, Jedi!" Zera sneered. Leaving her staff to stand upright on its own, she pulled a lightsaber handle from her side and ignited its red blade.

Nemic's green saber shrieked to life as Zera attacked.

There was a flash of light from her still upright staff. Nemic seemed to reel from the blinding light but still mounted an expert defense with his green saber as Zera's red lightsaber lashed out at him from all directions. Nemic held Zera's saber high to his left, looping it in a shriek of energy as she pushed the padawan back with a continued fury. Nemic smacked her red blade away, then lashed back with a backslash left, a high shrieking chop, and an arc down for her head.

Nemic managed to slow her fury, walking left with deliberate footwork to turn away from a downward slash of Zera's red blade. The female Sith threw a backhand slash that was blocked and tried to lance Nemic. He batted the thrust away, trading several more strikes with her as they moved through the plaza.

Zera missed another chop, met Nemic's blade at her left, circled his blade right, then blocked a strike above her right shoulder. Their blades clashed between them again, with Nemic following with a powerful swing that batted Zera's blade out of her hand.

The red blade vanished into the silver handle as it clinked away over the paved concrete of the plaza.

Nemic held his green lightsaber out to Zera, visibly victorious.

Dakar took a few calm steps forward then threw out his hands at Nemic. A powerful blast from the force threw the unsuspecting Jedi Padawan over the side rail of the balcony.

Zera got to her feet quickly, her cape trailing behind her angry strides. She looked over the side of the concrete rail Nemic had been thrown over. Nemic survived, having landed on a thick tree below to roll off to the lower level floor.

Zera looked back at Dakar, again sneering. She grabbed her lightsaber handle through the force. It flew into her hands.

Zera vaulted herself over the side rail, determined to renew her fight with the Jedi Padawan.

Ayvan and Obi-wan found their way to the perimeter of the palace. The outer wall enclosed several apartment residences in buildings framing the giant concrete fortification. Thought there was a visible perimeter to the palace dividing it from the surrounding city, it had been designed to look more continuous and less foreboding than a barrier wall. Elevated walks, parks, and carefully manicured landscaping allowed the area to seem inviting. Shoppes lined the far walk, though they were closed due to the unexpected violent events around them. A number of blaster battles were audible from the palace exit where Obi-wan and Ayvan stood. Smoke drifted up into the sky a few blocks away. Fighter craft continued to swoop past overhead in the darkening sky.

And whatever the force was that was attacking, it was sending landing craft down into many parts of the city.

An Agaran X-wing screamed past overhead, firing its quad wingtip turbolasers into one of the elongated rectangular landing ships. The turbolaser bolds blasted into the hull of the four-legged lander, detonating it into a huge fireball. Enemy Raptor fighters roared after the X-wing, chasing it off.

Obi-wan and Ayvan walked down the white stone steps leading down from the palace and hurried off towards the surrounding urban township.

In the town square ahead of them, framed by green lawn parks and white stone walkways, one of the landing craft descended. The rectangular craft was a dark grey with subtle olive drab trim. A wedge-shaped cockpit with a broad panoramic canopy was set at the front of the craft. Four large landing struts, two near the front and two near the two large squared-off main engines, flexed as they touched down in the plaza. A pair of large guns were set above the main side opening of the craft ahead of a short set of wings that blended in with the long main body of the craft.

The side door of the landing ship slid open. A short ramp extended from the bottom of the exit.

Three reptilian beings in ornate dark bronze and black armor appeared, all about two meters in height. The Vorn walked slowly from the craft towards the two Jedi. Each pulled a lightsaber handle from their side as they continued to walk menacingly forward.

"These are…." Obi-wan began, his blue eyes fixed on the demonic armored warriors.

"Yes." Ayvan answered basically, pulling out his own lightsaber handle.

"Okay." Obi-wan pulled out his lightsaber as well.

Ayvan's green blade shrieked to life. With a deep exhale, Obi-wan activated his blue blade.

"They're powerful but they're not invincible." Ayvan noted in a very calm tone to Obi-wan. "Control your fear. Allow yourself to flow with the force."

Obi-wan took another deep exhale as he rotated his blue blade at his side to a ready position. The Vorn activated their amber blades in quick succession.

In unison, the Vorn charged.

Obi-wan and Ayvan charged at them in kind.

Sten H'nrai sat patiently in the cockpit of his X-wing. His pulse raced even as he tried to calm his breathing and remain focused. The cockpit of his fighter was calm with a few faint beeps from the instrumentation. The glowing vortex of hyperspace swirled ahead. He tried to enjoy the calm. If the report they had been given was accurate, the next few moments would become organized chaos.

The steady beep from his nav computer indicated they were close to their destination. General H'nrai briefly scratched his brown beard, then grabbed the flight controls of his red and white trim X-wing and flipped a switch to cycle the hyperdrive down.

The swirl of hyperspace became a broad spread of starlines that shortened rapidly to normal space. A single planet with two moons shot up to fill most of his field of view. The two organic looking arrowhead shaped destroyers remained just at the edge of Agara Prime's space, pointed towards the planet and away from the arriving fleet.

H'nrai was not alone. Three dozen other New Republic fighters, two assault frigates, and a Valorum Class destroyer emerged as sharply from hyperspace around him.

General H'nrai went into practiced motion.

"All wings report in." H'nrai spoke into his helmet com.

"Red Leader standing by." The X-wing commander reported.

"Green Leader standing by." The A-wing flight lead called.

"Gold Leader standing by." The Y-wing leader reported.

"Lock S-foils in attack position." H'nrai commanded, flipping his own switch to orient his X-wing as commanded. A steady hum of the s-foil extension motors vibrated through the back firewall of his cockpit.

H'nrai, at the front of the fighter wing contingent, studied the situation ahead. A great number of small blips appeared around the strange enemy destroyers; fighter craft swirling around their parent ship. The two alien destroyers themselves bristled with weaponry.

"We're going to need to launch the secondary craft. There are too many fighters around those ships." H'nrai noted. "Attack scenario theta. We'll go full on with Y-wings at one of those big destroyers."

"Reports and sensor readings from the ground show heavy bombardment of Agramyek." A coms officer from the _Vindicator_, the Valorum Class destroyer, noted to the group.

"Looks like we don't have much time then." H'nrai noted, getting a better grip on his flight controls. "All fighters! Begin your attack!"

The New Republic fighters surged forward. Turbolasers blazed ahead of them as they engaged the black Raptor fighters of the Vorn.

Obi-wan cracked the Vorn's gold blade up, cutting back for its chest to have his blue lightsaber blade angled away. Obi-wan cracked his blade against the Vorn's again and again. It took considerable strength to fight them, as Ayvan had noted. The Vorn warrior, with serrated white teeth glaring through the tough grey skin of its face, nearly knocked Obi-wan over with a backhand slash before the nineteen year-old could regain his footing.

Ayvan was doing considerably better, possibly from having experienced the Vorn on Coruscant not long before. He was dealing with the other two, using their size to offset each other. His green blade deflected a high strike from one and a chop from the other. He turned away from a chop from the Vorn at his left, spinning to cut through its right arm, then cutting off its head with a returning green slash. His end stance was a side guard, with Ayvan staring down the other surviving Vorn in a blank expression – as if a silent taunt of superiority.

The surviving Vorn screamed in rage as it charged Ayvan. Their glowing amber and green blades squelched off one another in a furious exchange.

The other Vorn and Obi-wan clashed sabers between them, with the Vorn narrowly missing a cut meant for the human boy's neck. Obi-wan leaned away from a diagonal chop at his right, angled the Vorn's blade away high, bated it back, angled away another slash. Their blade's locked. The Vorn tried to use his height and strength to lean on Obi-wan. The sabers sizzled with burning energy as they remained pressed against one another. In a surge of power, Obi-wan used the force to help him push back the Vorn with his saber, an invisible pulse added to his own physical strength. The Vorn seemed caught off guard by the move. Obi-wan chopped down again and again against the Vorn's blade until he finally knocked it back. The blue blade, in one vicious diagonal chop, cut through the Vorn from right shoulder to left waist. Its large grey form fell over dead as its amber lightsaber blade vanished back into its handle.

Ayvan managed a shoulder strike on the other Vorn. It staggered from the wound but soon stepped forward again to attack. A pair of strikes between Ayvan and the Vorn clashed between them, with Ayvan again ending with a cut into its upper body. The Vorn, staggered further and realizing its mortality, instead chose to charge again.

Ayvan blocked a group of strikes with his green saber but it was clear the Vorn was slowed down. Ayvan took a step back, silently giving the Vorn a chance to yield.

The Vorn glared back at Ayvan, finding energy in its own fury with the dark side. Ayvan, for a moment, had an expression of disappointment.

Ayvan angled a heavy strike from the Vorn's amber blade over his left shoulder, high to his right, then slashed his green saber through the Vorn's torso.

It was a killing blow. The Vorn fell over dead.

All three were dispatched.

Ayvan looked over at Obi-wan, who was still breathing heavily as he held his humming blue saber out before him. There was a hint of anger, rage, in the boy that ebbed as fast as Ayvan could detect it. The anger in Obi-wan faded fast into a sense of calm.

It made Ayvan remember the instructions of his father. Ayvan could not have Obi-wan as a true apprentice but he could show the young boy how to be a Jedi by example. And if Obi-wan were to turn to the dark side Ayvan would be charged with killing him. They would not have another Vader in their midst.

But the galaxy was filling up with Dark Jedi. It all seemed to not matter anymore.

"You okay?" Ayvan asked his cousin.

Obi-wan looked back at Ayvan, seeming to be in disbelief over what had just happened.

"Yeah, I'm good." Obi-wan nodded calmly.

"Come on. There's others who need our help." Ayvan led him away towards the apartment structures nearby.

Nemic Korin slashed out at Zera with his green lightsaber, cracking the blade against her red saber in a chained exchange between a row of stalled speeders in the middle of a main Agramyek road. She chopped down for Nemic's head, missing as he leaned away to cut down through a floating landspeeder. The destroyed repulse emitter exploded with sparks, causing the floating vehicle to fall on its damaged side. Nemic traded strikes with Zera at his right, his left side, and jumped back from a slash of her red blade.

A group of grey armored Agaran troopers rushed out of an adjoining road. One noticed the female Sith and pointed, "There!" The trooper's blaster rifle shot up to his sight, as did the weapons of the other nine troopers in his unit.

Zera saw the troopers just as they took aim. She sneered as a broadside of red blaster rounds screamed at her. She deflected several away with her blade, backflipping high up to the top of a nearby second story rooftop. The female Sith, her green cape flowing behind her, vanished from sight over the roof.

Nemic recovered quick as a few blaster rifle rounds had nearly hit him as well. He leapt up to the rooftop Zera had escaped to.

Lyssa Anota had finally found Nemic, seeing his green blade from a distance down the urban road. Seeing his blade clash with Zera's red lightsaber made her move more urgently. Green armored enemy troopers began flooding into the area, having chased the grey armored Agaran soldiers that had fired on Zera moments earlier. A scream from above grew. A pair of black Raptor fighters soared down from above, strafing up the street with green turbolaser fire. Landspeeders, building facades, the road, and a few Agaran troopers detonated away with the blasts.

Lyssa ran up the street at blinding speed, leaping up to plant her right foot on a stationary hovering speeder. The speeder wobbled slightly as she jumped high to a nearby rooftop. From there she ran along the gardened top of a residence, leaping across an expanse to the next building.

Nemic and Zera were a hundred or so meters away on an elevated pedestrian bridge. The long bridge ran back towards the palace several kilometers away. The elevated walk was about ten meters or so wide, allowing foot traffic in a partially landscaped serene urban lane.

Zera charged Nemic with her red blade, cracking her lightsaber against his green saber at his side. A few more traded strikes squelched off each other, with Nemic backing Zera towards a lightpole. Nemic slashed flatly for her upper body, which she ducked, leaving his green blade to cut through the pole. The severed lightpole fell over the side of the bridge.

Nemic's blade chopped down for Zera's head. She blocked and held his green lightsaber back with her red saber not far from her face. An invisible force threw Nemic backwards; a powerful force shove from Zera. The padawan landed hard on his back. His lightsaber vanished as it flew from his grasp.

Zera, screaming, leapt into the air to try and land her angry red saber through Nemic's heart. The Jedi padawan rolled away, with Zera stabbing full force instead into bare concrete.

Nemic's green lightsaber blade shrieked to life as it flew back in his hand. He exchanged several more blows with Zera until she backed away.

"Dakar shouldn't have sided with you!" Zera glared at Nemic. "The Jedi are too weak to confront the Vorn."

Nemic said nothing. He guessed that Zera was tiring and perhaps stalling to regain some stamina.

"We can help Prince Dakar." Nemic finally spoked. "Not exploit him as the Sith would."

"I am no Sith!" Zera growled. "I've only wanted what was best for Ian!"

It was then that Nemic realized fully what she was saying; what she was feeling. Zera was more than Dakar's master. She was his lover. She loved him! A Sith, or Dark Jedi, or whatever she was… in love? It seemed impossible.

"What you and he have…." Nemic spoke with some caution. "It won't survive this conflict. Let us help! You don't need to be Jedi or Sith. We can simply fix this."

A faint hum began to grow. It grew into the sound of sublight thrusters roaring; more fighters! Two Raptor fighter bombers wheeled down from the dark sky above. They were escorted by standard black Raptor fighters that were keeping Republic X-wings off them.

Republic X-wings!

Nemic sighted the fighters, then his master, Lyssa, running up the elevated walk towards him. The young Zabrak then turned to see Zera still staring angrily back at him. A half smile appeared on her pale face. She seemed to move as a blur, flying over the side of the elevated promenade.

Lyssa and Nemic turned in the opposite direction and sprinted away. The sounds of bombs screamed in – concussion missiles!

The whole section of the elevated promenade where they had been standing exploded into a hellish fury.

General H'nrai blasted a Raptor fighter, rolling over its fiery remains to fly on towards the two dark enemy destroyers. A group of Y-wings were setting up an attack run on the arrowhead destroyers far to his left. Four Raptors were charging in high to their rear left.

"Gold Five. You have enemy fighters high to the rear port. I'm on my way." H'nrai called.

A white and red X-wing joined up with H'nrai's red fighter as he throttled after the pursuing Raptors. He got a lock on one, launching a single proton torpedo after it. As the four Raptor's scattered from the missile threat, H'nrai picked a different fleeing target and blasted it away. Dipping under the burning remains, H'nrai banked back left, continuing his cover fire for the Y-wings.

Now close to one of the alien destroyers, he took closer note of its organic design. It truly looked like nothing he had seen. He tried to not get distracted by the sight of it, remembering that he had his sensor package recording.

A pursuing Raptor shot into the shielding of H'nrai's wingman. The white X-wing peeled off, trailing flame and smoke. H'nrai took a wide spiral roll, decelerating. The Raptor kept on the Y-wings, as he thought they would. Scissor jinking left, then right, as he slowed, he was able to turn into the pursuing Raptor, firing through its right wing and sending it spinning away madly before eventually exploding.

Two other Raptors took chase, firing their green turbolasers around his swift X-wing – blasts biting into his shielding. The two Raptors were destroyed by a pair of white and red A-wing fighters, clearing their boss' back.

The Y-wings fired off their contingent of ion and proton torpedoes. The torpedoes exploded in vicious blasts over the topside port metal skin of the alien destroyer. The Gold Squadron Y-wings banked away, one destroyed by fire from Raptor fighters swooping over the top of the damaged alien warship.

The dark of space beyond suddenly filled with the sight of four ships, two battlecruisers and two attack frigates. The battlecruisers had elongated tan hulls with hammerhead shapes and large drum shaped engines on wing-shaped nacelles, resembling a cross between a Corellian Corvette and a Consular Class cruiser, only five times larger than either of the two. The other two ships, the attack frigates, were merely evolved Nebulon B style ships with heavy armor and a number of turbolasers and missile launchers set over its hull. The attack frigates were gunboats. All four ships banked to form a wedge flank on the alien arrowhead shaped destroyers. Fighters poured from the battlecruisers, immediately attacking the black Raptor fighters to extend much needed reinforcement to their New Republic allies.

The tan battlecruisers and attack frigates of the Trade Federation joined the two Republic attack frigates and the Valorum star destroyer in going full-force after the alien capital ships. Heavy turbolaser blasts and missiles flashed between the massive warships, detonating off the shields and hulls of the giant vessels.

"General H'nrai. This is Commander Gaila Tiemen of the Trade Federation fighter wing." A female voice called over the com. "Sync to coms and let's clear these belligerents out. We'll cover you to at sector two and overlap to flank at seven."

"Copy that, Commander! Thanks for dropping in!" H'nrai called back, racing with three of his fighter wing towards the area Tiemen noted. He saw on his tactical display what her strategy was immediately. "We'll swarm Enemy Destroyer Alpha and sweep off their cover."

"Acknowledged." Tiemen's professional voice called back. "We'll take Beta and meet you in the middle."

Tiemen and her squadron flew their white and silver Naboo N7 starfighters into battle. Derived from the N1, the fighters had their main wing and thrusters set at the back instead of up front, giving them a dagger-like appearance. There were over twenty of them, swarming fiercely with Tiemen at the lead firing their turbolasers into the hordes of alien Raptors and destroyers ahead of them.

The overwhelming firepower of the New Republic and the Trade Federation seemed to have an immediate impact on the battle.

One of the arrowhead-shaped alien star destroyers, being pummeled by heavy blasts and missiles, looked to already be veering off slowly to run.

The sound of a lightsaber hummed in in swift movements. The shriek of deflected blaster rounds accompanied the humming swings. A grunt. Another deflected round. A scream from someone being hit by a plasma bolt.

Nemic Korin regained consciousness. He turned over, awaking to the haze of duracrete dust and smoke obscuring the city tower spires above.

Lyssa Anota stood above him, holding her violet lightsaber blade out defensively, looking towards some unseen enemy. Blaster bolts shrieked at her. Lyssa's violet blade angled quickly to deflect those that could have hit her back into the green armored clone trooper that had fired at her. Nemic got to his feet and pulled out his own lightsaber handle. He calmed as he saw there were no remaining threats nearby.

"I was going to wake you," Lyssa shut down her lightsaber blade, "but I was jumped by a squad of these clones."

"They're the Vorn army." Ayvan's voice said through the mist.

Lyssa and Nemic, startled for a moment, turned to see Ayvan and Obi-wan approach them through the haze. Nemic looked around. He realized they were now at street level. He remembered the fighter bomber launching its concussion missiles at them. He remembered leaping over the side of the raised promenade as it detonated behind them. Now they were on the street below, with heavily damaged structures and speeders around them, burning fires, and lots of bodies; clone, battledroid, and Agaran everywhere.

"That Sith woman attacked you! I saw!" Lyssa looked quickly towards Nemic.

"Zera?" Obi-wan asked aloud.

"I went looking for you." Nemic looked back at his master. "But I ran into Dakar and Zera. They were together… talking. Zera and Dakar, they're more than master and student. They're lovers."

Lyssa looked at him blankly. "Are you sure?"

"I only caught part of their conversation. She was trying to convince Dakar to join the Vorn – and to kill us." Nemic noted. "She said Dakar should kill us to appease the Vorn. That they would possibly grant him mercy if they killed us off. He was arguing with her but there's obviously a connection between them. Something more than just a master and apprentice situation."

"Dakar wants us dead?" Ayvan asked.

"No, he resisted." Nemic answered. "Zera begged him to kill us but he refused."

"There's some good in him still." Lyssa argued.

"Perhaps." Nemic turned towards her. "Still, Zera attacked me and he did nothing to stop it. As a matter of fact, I had her beaten and he saved her by shoving me off a balcony."

Ayvan looked around for a moment. There were more Republic and Trade Federation fighters in the sky. The alien Raptors were scant and looked to be covering a withdrawal. One of the Vorn attack frigates that had helped lay siege to Agramyek had been destroyed and lay burning in an outlying forest. Enemy troopers and battledroids were withdrawing. A few of the landing craft he had seen were now departing amidst the smoke and the early dawn.

"They're retreating." Ayvan noted.

"The New Republic and the Trade Federation have successfully rescued a system led by a Dark Jedi." Ob-wan stated.

"Interesting." Ayvan exhaled.

"He's not lost, Ayvan." Lyssa countered.

"Master Anota. You're letting your personal feelings impede you." Ayvan replied a bit coldly. "Considering what happened on Clenestine with Darth Syrik we should at least detain him and see what information he has on the Sith."

"He's a head of state. A ruling monarch. That would be problematic." Lyssa said. "I don't disagree with asking him about the Sith or Syrik but detaining him…. That might be tough."

"His master attacked Nemic." Obi-wan added. "That's significant."

"Master." Nemic looked at Lyssa, speaking with a kinder tone. "I'm sorry to say but I don't think whatever Dakar has in mind aligns with our expectations of Agara. I don't think he's the good person you think him to be."

"Agreed." Ayvan noted aloud.

"Ukare had his son taught by the Sith on purpose to keep Dakar's abilities secret." Nemic noted. "His father didn't trust us. I don't believe the prince does either. Not completely. This military build-up, his secret training, his hiding this information from you – a friend? Prince Dakar has his own agenda and it's something we might not like."

"We'll detain him and leave this planet. The Republic has this well in hand." Ayvan stated. "I will confront Dakar and…"

"No!" Lyssa bit back at Ayvan. "I'll take care of it. We can go together but I face Dakar."

"Are you sure if it comes down to it that you can put aside your feelings and fight Dakar?" Ayvan demanded. "It very well may come down to that."

"I will do what I must. I would also remind you, Master Ezen, that as ranking Jedi this is my responsibility. This is my mission."

Ayvan looked at Lyssa for a while and nodded. She was right. Lyssa was a member of the Skywalker Council. She outranked Ayvan in Jedi hierarchy.

"Very well. Let's get this done." Ayvan gestured for her to lead the way.

As they walked off Ayvan pulled his comlink from his belt.

"Nash." Ayvan called.

"Yeah." Nash's voice called back.

"Are you safe up there?" Ayvan asked.

"Safe as can be. It got a little crazy here for a while, but I have solid cover courtesy of the Trade Feds."

"Good!" Ayvan replied. "It's calming down here. I want you to head back to the palace and land. Remain on standby."

"Alright! I can't wait to leave this mess."

"Hopefully we'll be up soon after we take care of a matter here. Ayvan out."

The dark-skinned Jedi Master placed his comlink back on his belt. Obi-wan glanced at Ayvan briefly as they headed back towards the palace.

Prince Dakar walked through the wide grey halls of his palace. His rage had ebbed. Though the battle looked to be slowing he walked through the passages with purpose, his dark maroon cape flowing behind him. The familiar halls were home. The arched supports of the passage were known to him well, down to their etched curved decorative lines and the small Aurebesh script. A unit of grey armored Agaran troops hurried by, their boots clacking against the marble floor.

Dakar walked into the next chamber where he was met with a small contingent of the crimson armored elite guards. Their commanding officer, Major Tagere, had his helmet removed. His dark skin and grey hair were gleaming with sweat from battle. Tagere's armor had its share of blaster scoring, scuffs, and dirt.

"Your highness." Tagere greeted his sovereign with a loving respect.

The elite guard parted to allow Dakar to pass. As they moved the prince saw the body of his father set on a steel table.

Ukare's eyes had been closed. His wounds had been cleaned a bit, but he remained in the white and gold garb he had died in. A cloth had been laid over the worst of his wounds. While most were covered, the white leather of his garb remained stained with streaks and blots of crimson; his father's blood. The sight of it transfixed him. Dakar could say nothing. He could do nothing. His father was dead, motionless, yet somehow it seemed like he would get up at any moment and walk about. Ukare was in a permanent sleep.

It was then that it set in.

Dakar was king now. The city, the planet, and the entire Agaran System was his to rule. Dakar looked to Tagere and then to the faces of his troopers obscured by the full-face visors of their helmets. They were Agaran soldiers. They were also citizens, as was every being with a home on the planet. He was their sovereign. They were now looking to him for leadership.

"Your majesty…." Tagere seemed hesitant to speak to his ruler. "I'm very sorry your majesty. You are king now. What would you have us do?"

Dakar looked on the face of his father. The pain in Ian's heart was amplified by remembering what that face looked like in his youth. How Ukare had looked when Ian was a child. How he remembered his father and his mother, together, smiling during happier times. Simpler times. Holidays. Celebrations. After his schooling. He remembered his voice, both from his childhood and from the last time he remembered him speaking during the banquet.

Now that voice would speak no more.

"Your majesty?" Tagere asked carefully again.

"I am no king." Dakar said sadly, staring down at his father. "He was king. I can merely be his regent."

Dakar placed a black gloved hand gently on his father's chest. It took some effort to make himself do it. He didn't want to say goodbye for good. The idea of living without his father angered him. He was angered at those who took his father from him. That anger made the pain dim, but it didn't vanish. It remained a shadow over his heart.

"Take him to Doctor Morran." Dakar removed his hand, taking a step back. "We will have to wait to grieve until this is all over."

Dakar turned away, leaving the chamber and walking back out to the dark stone passage.

Ayvan, Obi-wan, Lyssa, and Nemic walked back to the main entry of the Agramyek Palace. At the foot of the large stone steps leading to the main entry were several Agaran troopers. Wounded were set off to the side near a cement clearing, awaiting a medical transport to land. Medics and medic droids worked over the wounded, many of whom had their helmets removed and some with parts of their plate armor taken off as well. Security remained tight even though there was no sight of the Vorn army invaders around. The surroundings certainly showed sights of the intense battle. It looked as though a group of battledroids had gotten to a barrier at the main gate. The remains of what looked like hundreds of silver battle droids and olive drab armored clone troopers were strewn about ahead of a line of makeshift duractete barriers and force field emitters. The enemy had gotten this far in massive numbers – and had been stopped.

The sky was getting brighter from the dawn, revealing much more of the damage to the surrounding city. Columns of black smoke reached up into the sky, disrupting the amber, orange, and pink hues of dawn.

"This is not going to go easy if Dakar decides to resist." Nemic said aloud, noting the massive military presence around the palace.

"The New Republic just saved his kingdom." Lyssa stated. "If we need to, we can push for a Republic magistrate to arrive and act as an observer until we can sort this out."

"He's a dark knight. I doubt he'll accept that." Ayvan replied cynically.

"But his master attacked me, not him." Nemic noted. "Isn't there a precedent for this in Jedi history? Count Dooku maybe?"

"Dooku was killed, as were all Sith and dark Jedi that appeared in the last few hundred years." Ayvan replied. "Ben Solo maybe but he was killed too."

"Zera Rhoma isn't going to get away with what she did." Lyssa looked to her apprentice as the group walked through the massive main entry opening of the palace. "I can assure that."

"We're going to need to get out of here fast if things go bad." Obi-wan noted. "Your ship is on that main landing pad at the top of the palace isn't it?"

"Yes." Lyssa answered.

"It's not going to be easy to get up there if you need to leave in a hurry."

"I have a droid up there in my ship. He's not a good pilot though." Lyssa said aloud, turning to look at her apprentice again. "Nemic, maybe you should…."

She was stopped mid-sentence as a massive group of crimson armored troopers flooded into the entry hall. Large curved stairways reached up to their left and right, seemingly carved in the same grey stone of the palace. The crimson troopers spread out along the stairway, at the side of the stairs, at the passageways leading away at the sides – they were trapped.

"What's the meaning of this?" Lyssa demanded loudly.

"Sorry Master Jedi." The apparent lead trooper replied to Lyssa. "King Dakar ordered us to detain you here."

"It's getting worse already." Obi-wan observed.

"Please come with us." The lead trooper asked Lyssa.

"We're here to speak with King Dakar." Lyssa asserted. "We're not going anywhere else."

Blaster rifles were raised and clicked to load, all aimed at the Jedi.

"We have our orders, ma'am." The lead trooper remained stoic, his face behind the blue tinted faceplate of his helmet calm and determined.

"What do we do?" Nemic's eyes scanned all of the crimson troopers, guessing there were probably more than thirty easily.

"These are allies. We can't hurt them." Obi-wan's voice wavered with uncertainty.

"No, but we can hold them." Ayvan stated.

"All of them?" Obi-wan noted in surprise.

"You and me, yes." Ayvan answered. "Lyssa you and Nemic can go on ahead. We'll handle this."

"That's enough! MOVE!" the lead trooper took aim on Ayvan.

Ayvan and Obi-wan, reflexively, threw their hands out. The crimson troopers jumped as if about to fire but stopped – frozen. Many squirmed, some panicked that they could no longer move at all, held invisibly and perfectly still by the force.

"Go!" Ayvan shouted to Lyssa, the Master Jedi clearly strained by holding half the troopers still with the force.

Lyssa and Nemic ran forward, taking the curving stairway at the right. They rushed past the frozen statue-like troopers, who's eyes followed the Jedi helplessly as they ran right past them. Lyssa and Nemic soon vanished up the large passage at the top of the stairs, turning down an access corridor to vanish into the labyrinth halls of the palace.

"We can't hold them forever can we?" Obi-wan grunted, his outstretched arms quaking from the strain.

"We're not going to." Ayvan stated. "We're going to have to be non-lethal how we handle this. Blaster rounds are only to be deflected away. Use the force to shove them back. This isn't something we asked for but we can handle it without killing anyone."

Obi-wan took a deep breath, fully understanding what Ayvan was getting at.

The entire world seemed to slow down for a moment as Ayvan and Obi-wan let go of the troopers. Both Jedi leaped into the air, flipping over the crimson troopers to different parts of the main stairway. Blaster rifles screamed to life. Lightsabers shrieked as they activated. Blaster rounds were deflected away. Avyan threw a few of the guards back into a wall with the force. Obi-wan shoved six troopers away in an invisible blast.

Lyssa Anota, still wearing the Jedi robe derivative of the dress she had worn during the banquet, walked into the main throne room of the palace with Nemic at her side. Her dress, like Nemic's Jedi garb, had been singed and worn from having spent a day in battle. The hints of dirt and grime tainted the elegance of the tan and burgundy trimmed dress.

The throne room was dark, with lines of oval sconces at the sides of the chamber lighting the area. The audience chamber was barren, allowing full view of the brown marble floor and the brown, maroon, and gold pattern that covered it.

The throne, platinum with gold trim, sat at the end of the room with a dark caped figure sitting on it. The figure, Ian Dakar, was shrouded in a shadow, with the only source of light on the throne a light shining down from above.

"Have you come to kill me?" Dakar asked in a grave tone.

"I've come to talk." Lyssa came to a stop with Nemic several feet before the throne.

"The time for talk may be at an end." Dakar replied coldly. "What are we to do? The New Republic and the Trade Federation have rescued my kingdom. But the Jedi, and indeed the New Republic, will never trust a major power led by what they perceive as a Sith Lord." Dakar stood, a dark imposing form in the shadows. "So, what have we come to?"

"Not long ago we were at peace. We were walking arm and arm as old friends, Ian." Lyssa noted sternly. "Darth Syrik appeared and that all seemed to change. Now… this! You, trained by a Sith? Your father, not trusting us. The appearance of the Vorn. Their retribution of you for not living up to your bargain with Zera."

"The boy told you then." Dakar replied. Though no one could see his eyes Nemic felt them fixed on him.

"Your mistress attacked him, Ian!" Lyssa bit back. "My padawan! And you did nothing! Now you tried to detain us with force in the lobby?"

"We are fighting a war, Master Anota." Dakar's voice remained cold. "My father is dead. I've formed alliances that I felt was right. Perhaps I made mistakes. My father made mistakes. But we are determined to not allow our kingdom to fall. Since the days of the Old Republic we've seen systems and powers rise and fall. The First Order. The Resistance. The Tuvaran Collective. Even the new Jedi Order and the New Republic itself nearly became extinct. I will not allow that to happen to the Agaran."

"We can fight together – as allies." Lyssa countered.

"This is not a war the Jedi can win." Dakar noted. "The Vorn will kill you all. The Jedi will fall because of their dogmatic belief in neutrality. You simply lack the resolve to take the fight to the enemy. Knowledge and defense – never attack. That's the Jedi way. It's the reason I chose to find an alternative to my training. And it's the reason that the Jedi will yet again die."

Lyssa remained silent for a moment as she stared back at Dakar. "Nemic." She addressed her padawan indirectly. "Go get our ship ready. We're leaving soon."

"Master, do you think it's wise? I should stay and help you." Nemic argued.

"Do as I say please. I need to speak alone with King Dakar." Lyssa said, her icy stern gaze on Dakar's shadowed form.

Nemic left calmly as Lyssa had ordered. The Zabrak padawan exited the dim lights of the chamber, leaving Lyssa and Dakar alone.

"Do you know anything about Darth Syrik? Were you or Zera his master?" Lyssa demanded.

"No. I don't know anything about him." Dakar answered, walking down the steps from the throne. "I first heard of him, no doubt, is when you did. I'm not certain he's an anomaly though. The Jedi are adept at keeping secrets, including those about Darius Skywalker."

Lyssa was slightly taken aback. She had heard the story of Darius Skywalker but it was supposed to be guarded information. How had Dakar found out about Darius?

"It wouldn't surprise me if there were other Darth Syrik's out there." Dakar paced closer. "From what I gather he was probably well-supported. He had a state-of-the-art vessel, am I correct? Much like Darth Maul's." Dakar drew closer to Lyssa so that he was standing but a foot from her, leaning towards her as he spoke. "We all know who his master was." Dakar paced away again, walking away from Lyssa. "Of course, you probably already knew this too."

"Did the Vorn have anything to do with Syrik?" Lyssa aksed.

"I seriously doubt it." Dakar answered. "Something like that would be a distraction for them. You must understand one thing about the Vorn. They believe themselves to be masters of the force. They want anyone capable of wielding the force to be either under their control or dead."

"If you won't ally yourself with the Jedi then where does that leave you?" Lyssa pressed.

Dakar again looked back over his shoulder at her. "Agara is part of the New Republic. We will come to the defense of one another. Still, I have formed other alliances as well. Informants. Business associates. Political allies. Military cooperatives. I'm confident I can handle the Vorn. The question is what will the Jedi do? In your quest to remain neutral you've made yourselves a target. Yes, you are closely allied with the New Republic but how many in the Republic truly trust the Jedi? It's been three hundred years since Vader and slightly less since Kylo Ren and the First Order. The trust the Old Republic had in the Jedi has simply never retuned – and may never return."

"Our existence is not centered around gaining trust, Ian." Lyssa argued. "It's about doing what's right. And in doing what's right we will engender trust."

"In times like these you will find that the perception of 'what is right' will vary from one system to another. The concept of 'doing right' is going to fall to one's own point of view."

"The Jedi know what is right, Ian." Lyssa said sternly. "I'm wondering if you know yourself."

"Excellent point, Master Anota." Dakar grinned. "My system has been attacked. My father is dead. I am, admittedly, struggling with my feelings on 'what is right.'"

"You feel vengeance and hatred in your heart, Ian." Lyssa countered. "I can sense it. And you like it! You LIKE the power you feel from giving in to your anger. This is why we're going to come to odds. Unless you can control that…."

"I don't intend to control it." Dakar growled back. "I'm going to kill the Vorn and anyone that stands in my way."

"Your own lover is in league with the Vorn, Ian. You can believe that she isn't but she is!" Lyssa argued harshly. "She tried to convince you to kill us. To KILL US! For THEM! Is this what you want?"

"No, of course not." Dakar replied.

"Yet Zera is your lover!"

"I can control Zera."

"Can you?!"

Dakar took a deep breath. "I think our conversation is over, Master Anota." King Dakar allowed a pause of silence so that his words could sink in. "Return to your ship. Take your Jedi and leave my planet. Now!"

Lyssa stared at Ian Dakar for a moment. In his dark armored garb, his maroon cape, and his dark hair – she tried to remember the young boy she had known so long ago. It seemed that boy had faded away, giving way to the dark angered being standing in front of her.

Lyssa turned to walk away, allowing herself one more glance over her shoulder. "This isn't over between us, Ian."

Dakar grinned. "No, I don't think it is. Be on your way, Jedi. May the force be with you."

"The force is always with me, Dakar." Lyssa grumbled back. She turned her back on him and left.

Ian Dakar, King of Agara, followed her with his cold blue eyes until she was no longer in sight.

The new king was left alone in the dark of his throne room.

Nemic walked down the long bridge to the executive landing pad where their ship, the _Oberon_, waited. As the padawan drew close he noted that the ship looked relatively the same as when they had left it. It was relatively undamaged in the battle despite its extremely exposed location. The side ramp remained down with the light at the top still on. It was a welcome sight after everything that happened; a small piece of home in a small Corellian transport ship.

The com at Nemic's side beeped as he drew closer to the ship, outside the main landing ring. Nemic raised the device to his lips to answer.

"What is it, Em?" Nemic asked.

"Master… Nemic… she's here!" the droid's voice replied.

No sooner had the words been spoken had Nemic felt a sharp warning through the force. He dropped the comlink and grabbed his lightsaber immediately.

Running over the top of the ship was Zera Rhoma. He pale face, silver horned helmet, and flowing cape were barely visible with the rising sun at her back. There was a shriek of a lightsaber blade activating as she leapt from the top of the _Oberon _towards Nemic.

Nemic's green saber activated, stopping Zera's energized red blade above his head as she landed. Their movements flowed into several more lightsaber clashes, with the surprised Nemic finding himself pushed back.

"Dakar lacks the resolve to do what he must so I will do it for him!" Zera sneered across her blade at Nemic.

Nemic batted away a strike, was blocked at Zera's side, ducked a high slash, and angled away another searing strike from her blade. Regaining his footing, Nemic countered with a backhand, a high chop deflected away, and a flat slash Zera spiral flipped over.

Dakar sat on his throne, stunned in a kind of blank depression. The room was dark, like his mood. His father was dead. His kingdom was scarred in the fires of a war that had come out of nowhere. He had not heard an estimated death toll but he was warned it was in the thousands so far.

And the Jedi. He was trained in the ways of the force, but by a Sith. The Jedi would surely try to have the Republic remove him from power now that his secret was out.

And what of Zera? Beloved Zera. Who had been his master and became so much more. Was she truly capable of love? Or had she manipulated him this whole time to put him in the spot he found himself in? She suggested before that they could escape the influence of the Vorn. That they wouldn't have to bow before them if they finally arrived.

Yet here they were. And they were repelled. With their manufactured clone and battledroid army they were pushed back. And there were reports of three actual Vorn warriors having landed in the city. And two of the Jedi had bested them! Perhaps the Vorn legends were exaggerated.

An alert came from a console on the side of Dakar's throne. He depressed a button and a small holographic projector activated over the arm of the chair.

It showed the executive landing pad where Lyssa's ship was parked. At the side of the ship the forms of Nemic Korin and Zera dueled fiercely with their glowing blades.

Dakar immediately left his seat and ran out of the chamber. Not far from the chamber was a small garage where a pair of airspeeders and a small repulse chariot were parked. Dakar jumped on the chariot and depressed a key code on its main panel. A wide blast door opened ahead of Dakar, the main door to the small garage. The repulsors of the chariot whined as they powered up, levitating the chariot and sending it rocketing forward with Dakar at its controls into the Agramyek sky.

Lyssa emerged from the palace onto the long, elevated walk leading back to the pad where her ship was parked. As soon as she exited the large steel doors of the palace she saw the flash of lightsabers far ahead near her ship.

She had allowed herself to get distracted. Stupid! She could feel through the force once she became attentive that Nemic was fighting someone – a dark Jedi. Likely Zera.

And something terrible was about to happen.

Lyssa pulled her lightsaber handle from her belt and began running towards her ship. She ran as fast as she could, the force despite her thin remaining strength aiding in her sprint. A faint sound of repulsors touched her ears. She looked up to her left to see Dakar flying on the chariot, crimson cape flowing behind him, towards the battle.

Nemic angled away a few more strikes then slashed for Zera's side, only to be blocked. Their blades clashed between them twice. Nemic angled away a high swing, then rotated a reverse slash against his crackling saber. A high and low strike from Zera blocked, his cut for her shoulder stopped. She rotated away, angling away two more cracks from his green saber before forcing him to jump back from a flat backhanded humming slash.

Nemic and Zera paused, with the padawan staring calmly back at her for a moment. She rotated her red blade up to an attack stance. Nemic rotated his green blade at his side, as if answering her challenge, ending in a ready position.

Zera charged. She sent three fast strikes around his body, blocked by his green blade, a lance he avoided, blocked a high strike for her left shoulder, angled away his green blade at her right, missed with a chop where Nemic followed with a flat forward humming slash that cut off her head.

Nemic paused at the end of his follow through as Zera's head and body collapsed to the floor, with her red lightsaber blade vanishing.

There was a sudden cry of anger – a shout! A shriek of a lightsaber activating.

Nemic turned around as Dakar jumped from his chariot, allowing the air vehicle to fly off unmanned to crash somewhere in the nearby cliffs.

They were instantly in battle, with Dakar's angered red blade cracking against Nemic's again and again. Nemic was finally able to regain control, angling away two more humming slashes before counterattacking. Nemic struck out twice at Dakar's left to be blocked, slashed for his head, missed, had his green blade batted down. Dakar had gotten behind Nemic's left side in a dodge, sending his red blade through the padawan's back.

Nemic screamed as the glowing red blade impaled him from behind. Dakar, glaring with the power of the dark side, pulled his blade out to allow Nemic to fall forward to the ground, losing his own green lightsaber blade which shinked back into its silver and black handle.

The young Zabrak padawan fell to all fours, laboring to breathe. The pain was visibly immense on his face. His sweaty light brown face weakly turned to look up at Dakar. Dakar rotated his red blade up to a high guard, preparing to finish him off by cutting off his head.

An invisible force slammed into Dakar before he could cut down, throwing him with explosive force into the _Oberon's _side plating. Dakar bounced off the ship and fell to the ground. His blue eyes, burning amber and red with evil, turned up to see Lyssa rushing towards him with her violet saber drawn.

She chopped down against his red saber as he rose. Again over his left shoulder, chopped down at him again high, and again.

"This is what it's come to then?" Dakar asked her coldly.

"No more words, Dakar!" Lyssa charged again.

Her blade cracked against his at his left side, high to his right, traded a fury of strikes around them, angled away his red blade, then slashed powerfully for his head. Dakar blocked the violet blade with his red saber not far from his face. He was strong. The strength of evil made him smile back at her across the glowing heat of their weapons. Lyssa, with her resolve and mastery of the force, was surprisingly much stronger, throwing Dakar back.

She pressed her attack, allowing the dark prince no quarter. She angled a block behind her shoulder, in front of her chest, cut upward but missed him with a humming slash, met his blade over his left shoulder, then high to his head.

A pair of high strikes were traded with Lyssa swinging in a flashing arc to her right, clipping Dakar in the left side of his face.

Dakar screamed from the blow. Lyssa cracked the red saber out of his grasp to send the handle flying away as he fell, hands clasped over his left eye. The prince fell to his knees, howling in pain.

Lyssa held her violet humming blade out towards Dakar, keeping it pointing at him defensively. She allowed herself a very brief look at Nemic. He seemed to stir very slightly and Lyssa could still feel him with the force, but she wasn't sure how much life he had left in him. She looked down on Dakar, who was still on one knee on the ground and still in pain. His screams subsided but the pain was still apparent.

Lyssa raised her violet saber up, seeming intent on finishing him off as he had been prepared to finish off Nemic. She pushed herself to do it. She willed herself to do it – but couldn't.

Dakar finally looked up at her. His left eye was gone and there were substantial burn marks around the eye socket where it had been with a slight gash out the left of the ocular cavity. The pain was still visible on his face, but the fear was gone. Dakar stared up at her bitterly and tired.

"Do it." He told her, silently at first. "DO IT!"

Lyssa held her stance.

"Finish me off! I've lost everything today! DO IT!"

She wanted to kill him. She envisioned bringing her violet blade down through his body.

But it was not the Jedi way.

And even there in all the pain she could still see that young boy.

In restrained tears Lyssa lowered her weapon. The humming violet blade vanished into its handle as she walked away. She stopped in a stride to bend down and pick up Dakar's deactivated lightsaber. She threw the weapon as far as she could over the side of the elevated pad. She then hurried to Nemic's side to help him back to his feet. It was a struggle but somehow the boy seemed to help stand himself up.

"We're done, Dakar." Lyssa said over her shoulder, helping to carry Nemic back to her ship. "The New Republic will deal with you."

There was a sudden rushing of clanking boots. From a small stairway curving up the side of the pad an entire unit of crimson armored Agaran Stormtrooper emerged. They quickly rushed out, about twenty four in total. To surround and protect their king.

Lyssa paused in her tracks seeing the red troopers emerge, then take aim on her and Nemic. The presence of his small army inspired Dakar to find the strength to stand.

"I'm sorry Lyssa." Dakar said a calm, yet still evil, tone. "This is where it ends."

Behind Lyssa a large, very wide, green and grey mass floated up from behind the landing pad. The _Ward_ floated up behind Lyssa and Nemic. Visible inside the cockpit staring back at Lyssa, Nemic, Dakar, and his crimson soldiers were Ayvan, Nash, and Obi-wan looking back at them. The wing-mounted turbolasers of the _Ward_ took aim and fired. A turbolaser blast exploded into the left flank of the crimson troopers, sending three flying away in a fiery wrath. More turbolaser rounds hammered into the pad between Lyssa and Dakar.

The _Ward's_ repulsors screamed as it flew down and swung around, offering Lyssa and Nemic cover. Staccato turbolaser blasts kept the Agaran troops and Dakar at bay as Lyssa hauled Nemic to her waiting ship. Lyssa dragged Nemic up the ramp of her ship as Em powered it up.

In a few moments the _Oberon _was flying up into the sky, ramp retracting, to fly away into the clouds above. The _Ward, _its occupants staring down Dakar for a moment, turned up and away from the burning pad, following the _Oberon _in its escape.

King Dakar, regaining control over his pain and anger, watched both ships soar up into the brightening sky.

Lyssa found her mind racing, trying to recall. as best she could, her medical training given to her by the Jedi. It was limited training, on the order of a military medic. Nemic has a seared hole through his chest from Dakar's blade. The fact that he was still alive made her believe it had missed his heart but he was clearly having trouble breathing. And moving was very painful for him.

The walk from the ramp to the passenger bay lounge was short by normal standard but seemed to take forever for Lyssa to help Nemic get there. There were two padded bench seats facing each other with a short holographic table set between them. Lyssa set Nemic down, seemingly dead weight on one of the bench couches. She opened one of the side bays beside the far couch to reveal a medical alcove.

Lyssa lifted Nemic with the force, maneuvering him to the medical alcove bed while she hurried to find medical supplies in a nearby locker. She pulled out a large bag, like a sleeping bag with an electronic control package attached to it.

"Get in." she spoke, half aware of her own words as she helped Nemic inside the bag. It wasn't easy but Lyssa was able to get Nemic inside the grey and white treatment bag with little help from the padawan. With Nemic inside she began to work the controls of the unit.

"Master." Nemic's voice suddenly called out to her, oddly calm.

Lyssa paused to look her Zabrak apprentice in the eyes.

"I'm sorry… I failed you." He said, suddenly weak again.

"You didn't fail me Nemic." Lyssa shook her head. "You didn't fail at all."

Nemic's eyes rolled back. Lyssa hurried to activate the life support device. The bag was a portable partial stasis pod. It would slow his body functions down briefly until they could get adequate medical help – hopefully on one of the New Republic vessels. His eyes closed, seemingly at peace. The control system of the bag noted that Nemic was still alive, only just barely.

Lyssa made sure Nemic was secured in the bunk before running up to the cockpit of the _Oberon. _It was only a short distance ahead of the lounge through a short corridor.

Her light blue assistant droid, Em, was already at the left seat controls of the craft. His head turned briefly so his silver visor-like eyes could see her. Lyssa set herself into the copilot seat to look out at the expanse of space ahead. She turned to the right to see out the canopy window that the _Ward_ was flying just to their starboard side slightly behind them.

A large Mon Calamari cruiser loomed ahead of them. The Valorm Class Republic Star Destroyer was on station far to the port, looming in space like a giant protective white blade.

"Good to see you again, Master Anota." Em greeted her in an even toned metallic voice.

"Good to see you too, Em." She replied in kind.

"The _Argus _is giving us instruction to land. Medical staff is awaiting our arrival." Em noted.

"Thank you Em." Lyssa responded, truly grateful.

"How is Master Corin?" Em asked.

"Not good, Em." Lyssa exhaled.

The _Oberon _turned slightly towards the open side hangar bay of the _Argus. _The _Ward _wasn't far behind. Both traveled as fast as standard procedure would allow. They had a medical emergency so they were allowed a clear path, but it was still very busy space. Two X-wings flew by on a close perpendicular path as they flew protective combat patrol. Another shuttle, likely also with a critical mission, slipped out of the glowing white force field as the _Oberon _entered the cavernous hangar bay.

Both the _Oberon _and the _Ward_ set down on an empty area of the deck close to one another. Lyssa could see the medical team ready near their landing zone.

In moments the ramps on both ships lowered. The medical team rushed into the _Oberon, _carrying Nemic out on a floating stretched as Lyssa watched. She followed the blue uniformed medical team with Em down the ramp and out of her ship.

Ayvan, Obi-wan and Nash were already out of the _Ward _as Lyssa approached, maneuvering through the heavy congestions of the hangar.

"Clear a path!" the lead medic shouted as the team pushed Nemic's stretcher away from the ships and towards the inner areas of the ship.

Nash was already speaking to a New Republic general, likely about all that occurred. Lyssa looked to his group and to Ayvan. She seemed frozen for a moment, her once beautiful robe-like dress in charred tatters and her lightsaber at her side.

"Go. We'll take care of this." Ayvan assured her, sensing her question. "Be with your padawan and make sure hes' okay."

Lyssa nodded in response. She hurried off to follow the medical team across the busy hangar bay.

Republic Senator Jun Graff sat alone at the opaque glass table of his large dining room. Behind him was a broad transparisteel window looking out to the pastoral green landscape of New Alderaan. Graff was occupied eating breakfast, his favorite meal of the day. Two eggs, hask strips, sausage, two large buttered slices of Corellian toast. It hearkened back to his days as a long haul heavy freighter pilot. Those were simpler times. How far had Graff come! He was an academy graduate already before being a freight driver but he had attended law university after a freight transport strike in the Inner Core. The strike had prompted him to run for local office. After winning he helped set right several trade disputes, becoming a rising star until being elected as a Corellian Senator.

The spacious modular home he occupied on New Alderaan was a vacation home. The view behind him was of lush green gentle hills rolling into a plain that met a mountain chain far at the horizon. The capital of New Aldera could be seen gleaming as several spires far in the distance at the shore of Lake Makwarie.

A silver protocol droid walked into the dining room carrying a pair of metal carafes. The droid, RC-2N, approached his master close to his right shoulder.

"More juice? Javaka?" RC-2N asked in a metallic male voice with an inner core accent.

"A little of both please, Arcee." Graff replied.

The droid complied, carefully pouring more amber juice into his glass and then more hot javaka into his tall mug.

"Thank you." Graff said flatly as the droid exited.

The sliding white door of the dining area slid open, allowing a unformed humanoid to enter. The uniform was the dark grey and tan version of the New Republic Army. The humanoid was fair skinned with dark hair that was thinning on top. A trimmed dark beard with some gray coloring covered his face. The rank plate on his chest noted him with a v-shaped insignia of Major.

The Major walked calmly into the dining room and took a seat across from the senator.

"King Ukare is dead." Major Harkell noted evenly as he sat down.

"Yes I know." Graff seem unphased.

"Did you read the reports?" Harkell asked, in a tone that hinted at disbelief.

"Yes." Graff remained calm as he ate. "Jedi and Sith everywhere. The prince…"

"King Dakar." Harkell corrected him.

"The new King exposed as a Dark Jedi." Graff corrected himself.

"The Jedi I understand don't like that term. They're calling him a Sith."

"Whatever." Graff scoffed. "The Jedi have always been so damned touchy about little things."

"Well the Senate sure is in an uproar over this. A massive invasion fleet trying to take a Republic member system? And the Vorn?" Harkell shook his head in disbelief.

"The Vorn showed their hand too early." Graff wiped his faced and set the white napkin down on the opaque white glass table. "This Syrik kid forced them to act prematurely."

"We tried to deal with Ukare but to no avail." Harkell stated. "Maybe Dakar will be more receptive."

"I've been talking to him for the past few months." Graff replied. "I sent him a communique expressing my condolences for his father's death and offering any assistance I could. I'm sure he will see that as us extending a helping hand again."

"Let's hope you're right." Harkell noted. "These Vorn seem like a formidable force despite them losing at Agara Prime. If the Jedi hadn't been there and had the New Republic and the Trade Federation not been tipped off the planet would have been reduced to cinders."

"The Trade Federation being brought in complicates things. This Jedi Master Ezen unfortunately had to send coms far and wide for help."

"He's a formidable Jedi." Harkell noted. "Early intelligence from the field noted him and one other Jedi killed three Vorn on their own."

"The Obi-wan Shai kid that beat Syrik on Clenestine." Graff clarified. "He and this Master Ezen seem to both be very powerful Jedi indeed. A potent team. We need to watch them closely."

"The Vorn will unlikely…."

Harkell was cut short by a soft chime in the dining room. It was a ring from the coms system. Graff looked at his wrist computer to see who it was.

"Dakar." Graff said with some surprise as he stood up. "Good timing I suppose."

Jun Graff walked from the dining room table to a nearby hologram alcove. The alcove had the same white plastic walls as the home, only the glass to the outside was opaque around the hologram emitter to keep outside eyes from prying. Harkell stood up to follow his superior but remained respectfully outside of the holographic chamber circle.

Graff depressed a series of keys on his wrist com. An image of King Dakar sitting on his throne flickered to life in actual scale. Dakar wore the same dark leather bodyglove and armor as he had before with the same dark purple cape, only now on his head he wore an angular gold crown that glimmered in the holomatrix. A part of the lower rim of the crown had an extension, with a partial face covering and a faceted black onyx covering over his left eye – the eye that Lyssa's blade had taken. Dakar's face beneath the crown had a somber expression.

"Your majesty King Dakar." Graff greeted him warmly. "I appreciate you contacting me. How can I be of service?"

"Greetings Senator Graff. I've contacted you to discuss your proposed alliance." Dakar said coldly.

"Certainly, your majesty." Graff smiled. "Again, please let me extend my deepest condolences to you on the loss of your father and to express my sorrow at the attack on your people. The loss of life on your planet… is awful. I am so sorry."

"I appreciate that Senator." Dakar's hologram nodded. "Certainly this discussion, I assume, is between you and I? Not the New Republic or any other entity?"

"Of course." Graff assured him. "Our discussions are always confidential."

"I would hope they are for a Republic Senator of an Inner Core world to promote the concept of secession." Dakar stated.

"It's not secession, your majesty." Graff stated in a light defense. "The Republic simply isn't what it was after the fall of the Empire. I suspect it never will return to the way it was prior to the Clone Wars. They were too reliant on the Jedi. They were comfortable in the old ways. The First Order was but one government that came and went since. There have been and continue to be fractured systems in the Republic. I just want to create an ideal system alliance, with progressive worlds that understand what it takes to maintain order."

"I don't disagree with you there, Senator." Dakar noted coldly. "I would like to again discuss this proposed alliance."

"Certainly, your majesty." Graff grinned.

"I would like to address a few changes though." Dakar stated.

"What kind of changes?" Graff asked. No sooner had the words escaped his mouth that he began to feel a choking sensation at the back of his throat. It felt odd at first, like he had just choked on some food. The instant of dread became panic as the invisible pressure increased on his throat. His eyes widened as he stared at Dakar. The King was responsible for this! Dakar, the Dark Jedi, was choking him from several systems away through the force. Graff suddenly became light on his feet and floated upward.

Major Harkell looked on in fear and astonishment but willed himself to say nothing. He simply stared as Graff's body floated upward.

"It's organizational structure." Dakar stated with an evil chill.

"Whhh….why?" Graff managed to speak, his disbelief and fear staring back at Dakar.

"My early intelligence reports state that a great number of the clones and battledroids used in the attack on my planet were shipped here." Dakar noted forcefully. "Shipped here on freighters under your direction."

"I had…. no idea…." Graff strained.

"Thousands of battledroids moved by ships you routinely contract?" Dakar growled. "Hundreds of thousands?"

"You're mad! I never knowingly would…." Graff gasped, "… do something like… that. I hire ships all the time. So… do… lots of other….. businessmen."

"You crossed me, Senator!" Dakar stared back angrily through the holomatrix. "I will find the truth of this and when I do there will be blood."

Graff flew back, as if a doll thrown away, landing hard on his light tan couch at a painful angle.

The hologram of King Dakar flickered out, leaving a wheezing Jun Graff and Major Harkell alone again in the room. Graff regained himself and sat properly in the couch where he had landed, looking up at Harkell.

"Now what?" Harkell asked, somewhat uncertain in general what to say.

Graff continued to breathe heavily, eventually calming. "We activate the Black Guard." Graff said finally. "And we move our operations to Vardos."

Harkell stared back at Graff, his blank expression barely hiding his displeasure.

"It's the only way." Graff continued. "The Vorn are in motion and Agara is no longer an option."

"Dakar will have to form new alliances." Harkell noted. "When the New Republic responds to what he's become, what he represents, a Sith as the sovereign leader of a prime system. They won't allow it."

"Dakar can deal with the consequences of his actions on his own." Graff argued. Graff studied Harkell's face for a moment, noting the Major's uneasiness. "Trust me, Major this is the next step. This is a better way."

Lyssa Anota walked slowly through the sandstone halls of the Skywalker Order temple. She was home – and in her normal off-white and brown Jedi garb. Her long red hair was tied back in bun high at the back of her head, with a long tail end hanging out in strands from the arrangement.

The temple was like any other structure on Tatooine. Pale white stone of rough texture made up the walls of the building. Light orbs were set within roughly cut square recesses in the walls of the passage, giving it a monastery kind of feel. Other Jedi, a few here and there, strolled about the halls and the open air courtyards, on their way to whatever tasks they had at hand.

The homecoming was bittersweet for Lyssa. While it had been some time since she had returned to the temple she was on her own – without her padawan. Though she tried hard to maintain her center, her calm, Lyssa couldn't help but feel greatly disappointed with herself for what had transpired on Agara Prime.

Lyssa walked through a short garden-like areas of the compound. It was a garden in the sense of how one might barely be defined on such a harsh inhospitable desert planet. A few vine plants from other parts of the galaxy had been set in hanging planters around the maroon stone veranda. The plants were green but rough, genetically adapted to needing as little water as possible. A small vaporator tower stood at the wall at the edge of the terrace, the source of the plant's limited water.

The entry to Master Skywalker's residence was a wide set of open stacking doors. Long tan curtains hung at the sides of the doorway, flowing in the breeze. A set of silver chimes lightly rang in a soft light disjointed melody. Inside was a slightly darker tone of earthy décor. Cloth covered couches were set near the entry with a large holotable between them. More curtains hung behind them, separating area of the large circular residence in a subtle inviting manner. Lady Skywaker's residence took up the entire top floor of one of the broad round spires of the temple. With a very similar design to the monastery that was once Jabba's Palace, the top floor of Skywalker's apartment was open in broad openings at the sides to the outside world, allowing a panoramic view of the surrounding desert and massive rock formations. The inside of Victoria's home was relaxing in an old world manner, as though created by the early Jedi themselves. Many objects d'art decorated the dwelling. Large vases. Ceremonial masks. A few gaffi sticks were set in a wicker basket on a far wall.

Lyssa walked quietly past Victoria's large round bed towards the far balcony.

There she found the aged matriarch of the order, leaning against the balcony wall looking out into the desert. Victoria had her white and tan Jedi robes on, set native style. Her robes were full but loose enough to allow plenty of air flow. Her white and blonde hair was pulled back in a tight bun at the back of her head. Her aged skin was a good shade of brown, tanned by ages in the desert.

"Master Anota." Victoria's thin voice called out before she herself turned to look at her visitor.

"Master Skywalker." Lyssa nodded slightly but with due respect.

"Has the news of your apprentice not changed?" Victoria asked, her blue eyes fixed on Lyssa's.

"No. He's in stasis still." Lyssa noted with some sadness. "It was a miracle that he survived at all. The will of the force."

"I'm sorry." Victory responded sincerely, turning to pace away a few steps. "He will be cared for and every measure will be taken to aide his recovery. We know of a facility where he can be cared for properly, allowing him to remain in stasis as he, hopefully, heals from his extensive injuries."

"Where is this medical facility, Master?" Lyssa was genuinely curious. She had never heard of such a place.

"The New Republic has a medical installation for such things on Hoth." Victoria replied. "We will have our own people on watch over him, of course."

"Hoth." Lyssa exhaled. "Such a cold and barren place."

"The cold is a safeguard of the stasis facility. Others have gone there, some in worse shape than young Korin, and have recovered."

"Hopefully…."

Victoria walked quietly beside Lyssa, stopping at her side. Lyssa's eyes were cast down as Victoria looked upon her.

"You blame yourself for what happened." Victoria observed flatly.

"I do." Lyssa admitted. "When Dakar revealed himself as a Sith disciple… I should have taken him into custody there. Or…."

Victoria kept her gaze fixed on Lyssa as she grasped for the word.

"Or?" Victoria pushed slightly. "Vanquished him?"

Lyssa struggled with her thoughts. "It's not the Jedi way." She muttered. There was an awkward silence between them. Lyssa looked up suddenly, recalling Victoria's history.

"I'm sorry Master Skywalker." Lyssa apologized sincerely.

"It's okay." Victoria offered a real half smile back at Lyssa. "I don't hide from my past, Lyssa. You may think it uncomfortable but I'm glad you're talking to me about this. I know what it's like. I didn't want to kill Darius. He was my brother. I remember the joy we had as children… to this day." Victoria paced around her museum like room a few steps. "And I tried to bring him back to the light. I often wonder what might have been if I had vanquished him earlier. The lives that might have been spared. For some time I blamed myself for believing I acted too late." Victoria turned to face Lyssa fully. "But then I realized something. I didn't kill the people Darius struck down. He did!"

"I had him beaten." Lyssa stared away blankly, silently seeing the scenario play back in her head. "I had my lightsaber raised and I was going to kill him." Lyssa's lips pursed together in the saddened pain.

"You spared him." Victoria noted calmly. "You spared him because you acted humanely. There's no crime in that."

"He's still alive. How many more will he hurt now? How many will he kill?" Lyssa became more animated, looking over at Victoria.

"You can't blame yourself for that, Lyssa." Victoria pleaded with her.

Lyssa offered no response. She remained quiet as Victoria continued to glide slowly around the room. Master Skywalker seemed to be tidying up.

"The Jedi of the Old Republic emphasized detachment." Victoria noted as she gathered a pack and set it on her bed. "They felt emotion and relationships clouded the force. The pain of loss. The desire for acceptance. Love. The vanity of impressing others. The hunger for power. They felt all these things were possible links towards the dark side. What they failed to realize is that personal detachment also leads to apathy. Not caring is also a route towards darkness." Victoria set her pack on the floor and looked again at Lyssa. "The fact that you care is a good thing, Lyssa. You have heart. Heart was missing from the old Jedi Order. It's what nearly led to our extinction."

"Emotion can be swayed towards anger and hate. Especially if it's coupled with loss." Lyssa countered.

"There's a difference, my dear, between caring and coveting." Victoria replied. "We cannot fear loss but we can't be so afraid of loss that we fail to care."

"Yes Master." Lyssa nodded, feeling fractionally better.

"Lyssa, I intend for you to one day to replace me." Victoria said flatly.

Lyssa was stunned for a moment by the comment. "Me? Master, I'm not worthy of something like that. Surely Master Gree or Master Farriq…."

"You have always been worthy, Lyssa." Victoria noted. "And while they're painful its experiences like this that prepare you for the role you will one day assume. They will give you the confidence and the stele resolve to carry you through any hardship ahead."

"Well, I don't feel I'm ready." Lyssa smiled at her old master. "And you're going to live a hundred more years anyway."

Victoria took a deep breath and closed her eyes, reaching out for a moment through the force. "I'm not sure about a hundred." Her aged blue eyes opened again. "The future is unclear, as it is for King Dakar and others intertwined in the path ahead."

Lyssa perked up at Skywalker's words – and with the realization of the foreboding tone in her voice. "Do you sense something dark ahead? The Vorn? Dakar?"

"If you slow your thoughts and control your feelings you can sense it as I do." Victoria breathed. "Always in motion is the future. You can feel the darkness in the corners. In the shadows. Sometimes there only as a hint. Sometimes something far worse."

Lyssa again looked over Victoria Skywalker. Her garb was shorter, a lightweight white robe with tan wrappings and boots. The pack at her side. The walking staff not a few feet away against a wall.

"You're going somewhere." Lyssa observed, surprised.

Victoria looked back at Lyssa silently for a bit, glancing out over the outside balcony towards the brown and maroon rock faces of the surrounding desert.

"Tatooine has always been in the Skywalker blood." Victoria observed. "For generations we've been linked to this desert. I am going on a vision quest through the force."

"A vision quest?" Lyssa asked curiously.

Victoria smiled. "A walk in the desert. We surround ourselves with so many responsibilities. So many distractions." Victoria looked around her own quarters and, seemingly, to the Jedi Temple in general. "When we travel without an intended destination, when we remove ourselves from the civilized world and embark on a… journey for the simple sake of traveling, we can sometimes free our minds to reach out further with the force. To see things our distracted minds might not normally notice."

"You're trying to see what lies ahead. To get a clearer idea of the future." Lyssa observed.

"Yes." Victoria answered simply.

"Let me go with you." Lyssa offered.

Victoria smiled broadly again and shook her head. "This is a journey I must take alone. Without distraction."

"The open desert is dangerous, Master."

Victoria again smirked. "I'm a Skywalker. I can handle it."

Victoria picked up her pack and her staff made of machined metal segments. The elder Jedi Master legitimately looked like a true Tatooine native.

"What am I to do?" Lyssa aksed.

"Master Ezen will return shortly. Drake and I conferred and we would like you to go to learn more about the weapons used on Agara Prime, especially the clone troopers."

"What of Obi-wan and his Republic Military associate?" Lyssa asked.

"Lieutenant Corino is with the New Republic garrison at Mos Eisley." Victoria explained. "Young Obi-wan, however, is to stay here until I return. Considering recent events and the appearance of the Vorn we are going to reevaluate his position with the Order."

"Are you going to make him a Jedi?" Lyssa asked, seemingly annoyed at the idea.

"Nothing so brash." Victoria answered. "I'm going to try and complete his training. And by 'complete' I mean the intangibles of being a Jedi Knight. He certainly has the skill and has mastery of the martial art, but being a Jedi is far more than that."

Lyssa nodded slightly. "Yes master."

Victoria walked with her gear towards Lyssa. He grabbed her by the shoulders then gave her a big hug. Lady Skywalker felt somewhat frail at her age as they hugged, yet Lyssa could also sense how powerful Victoria was as well through the force. Sensing this she had every confidence that her master would be okay.

"May the force be with you." Victoria said to Lyssa as they parted.

"May the force be with you as well, Master Skywalker." Lyssa replied warmly.

Victoria patted her former apprentice on her right arm and walked away. The aged Jedi Master left her vast living chambers, leaving Lyssa standing on her own as a breeze flowed gently through the surrounding curtains.

Lyssa watched Victoria walk away, like a female Obi-wan Kenobi of sorts. Victoria had been tempered by the desert. Lyssa knew she was skilled at survival on that planet.

She prayed Victoria Skywalker would be safe and that she would return quickly.


End file.
